Passing the digital baton: will the next generation of open source maintainers please stand up?

The free and open source software ecosystem underpins all digital infrastructure, the software on which we all (governments, individuals, industry) rely. In nearly 50 years of free software, people have run, studied, modified, and shared their code, creating the open technologies that form the backbone of modern society. Like digital roads and bridges, everything from cars to mobile phones to thermostats couldn't function without open source.

Many people maintaining this tech are volunteers. They solved a problem, and shared a solution with the world. The world, however, has come to rely on their labor. What will happen when they stop, when they retire?

In a recent Sovereign Tech Agency survey, the largest maintainer group had >21 years of work experience; similar Tidelift surveys have respondents between 46-65 doubling. The aging of open source maintainers and the stagnating number of younger contributors signal a demographic shift that endangers how all software is made. If we don’t act through programs like Outreachy or the Linux Foundation’s mentoring to make open source more attractive, the coming generational tide won’t lift all boats — it will sink them.