Software Developer/Analyst
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Scancode-toolkit (Repo | Website)
ScanCode detects licenses, copyrights, dependencies by "scanning code" to discover and inventory open source and third-party packages used in your code. -
scancode.io (Repo | Website)
ScanCode.io is a server to script and automate software composition analysis pipelines with ScanPipe pipelines.
Form Responses:
- How to support
Use our tool to scan your projects/dependencies, contribute with development, docs, issues and use cases, or help us sustain ourselves: https://github.com/sponsors/aboutcode-org - A small brief about your project
A typical software project often reuses hundreds of third-party packages. License, packages, dependencies and origin information is not always easy to find and not normalized: ScanCode discovers and normalizes this data for you. You can scan containers, binaries, source archives, code snippets/files or any code repository, or their dependencies, and look for software licensing issues, vulnerabilities, community health metrics, origin, other similar/matching FOSS code, and this is available as a CLI tool, python library, as a webapp with docker/k8s or as a GitHub action. Along with our FOSS projects to scan code, we also release open data to use with the tools and provide instances of these tools/APIs for public use. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Being extra kind to all other contributors (and yourself) goes a long way, and don't be afraid to say no or set clear expectations. And then docs, docs, docs! - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I've had the privilege of having an excellent mentor and very nice folks as co-maintainers so it is really nice to build something with them. And also lots of strangers online using our tools, helping us and letting us know that we’re building something useful is the best part. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
I'm not sure about a theme song, but a song which is the farthest from being our theme song would be: All iz well (in your code) from 3 Idiots - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
https://github.com/aboutcode-org/scancode-toolkit/blob/develop/.github/workflows/scancode-release.yml. It's usually always on fire anyways, with the many supported OSs, and python versions we test for, releasing as a container, CLI tool, python/OS libraries, with many non-pure-python dependencies (most of which we maintain) which needs wheels released for every combination of OS/python versions and our third party package repository (it's a small pypi index that we maintain, vetting each new package added here) used to build release archives, things are quite complicated on this release file. 😂 - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🧑🚒👩🚒🚒
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Dalgo (Repo | Website)
Our open-source data platform enables NGOs to harness the power of data by automating data consolidation, transformation, storage and visualization on a unified platform.
Form Responses:
- How to support
More contributions! - A small brief about your project
Dalgo is an open-source data platform for the nonprofit sector - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Start collecting good first issues early! Don't knock them off just because you can - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
All our components are FOSS, we want our work to be public as well! It's all right if people don't run our platform, just having the code out there helps people too - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Something by Purple Disco Machine - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
Probably the Jest tests - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
😌
Contributing to Scientific open-source
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nx-parallel (Repo | Website)
Network Analysis in Python -
networkx (Repo | Website)
A networkx backend that uses joblib to run graph algorithms in parallel.
Form Responses:
- How to support
You can contribute to the projects by using them and giving feedback, resolving issues, fixing bugs, getting involved in the discussions. And you can also contribute financially as a GitHub sponsor: https://github.com/networkx . You can also hire me so that I can donate the time I spend on looking for opportunities into nx-parallel and networkx instead :) - A small brief about your project
nx-parallel is a backend for NetworkX, a widely used pure-Python library for graph analysis. While NetworkX includes hundreds of useful algorithms (like TSP, PageRank, Dijkstra’s shortest paths, etc.) it can get really slow on large graphs since it runs on a single CPU core. nx-parallel accelerates these algorithms using joblib, running them in parallel across multiple CPU cores, threads, or nodes—depending on the parallel backend. To use it as a backend, simply pass backend="parallel" to supported NetworkX functions (e.g. nx.all_pairs_dijkstra(G, backend="parallel")), or input a nxp.ParallelGraph object instead of nx.Graph, or set the environment variable NETWORKX_BACKEND_PRIORITY="parallel". - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Concentrate more on the "why"s instead of "how"s, and don't burn yourself out-- take breaks! - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I get to learn new things, work with nice people and I like working on something that's useful to people, and helping in making it better. Also, I just don't want this project(nx-parallel) to be abandoned and archived someday -- I want to build a sustainable community of users, contributors and maintainers around it :) - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Bach's Prelude in C Major - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
Timing script: https://github.com/networkx/nx-parallel/blob/main/timing/timing_all_functions.py - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🐣
SDE/ Researcher
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Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
GitHub Sponsors @ https://github.com/sponsors/tattle-made - A small brief about your project
Feluda is a configurable engine for analyzing multi-lingual and multi-modal content. It allows researchers, fact checkers and journalists to explore and analyze large quantities of multimedia content. Feluda has a component called operators , which are built keeping in mind the need to process data in various modalities (text, audio, video, images, hybrid) and various languages - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
One thing I would tell my yonder self is - “you don’t have to feel the pressure to always reply immediately”. It’s easy to feel like you need to be constantly available, you want to be helpful, responsive, and keep the momentum going. But over time, I’ve learned that it’s okay to take a step back, take my time and only respond in the bandwidth I have with better clarity than speed. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I have always been drawn to understand how new technologies and practices shape the web, specifically social media, examine their impact on human lives, and the broader societal consequences of this interplay. I am interested in studying trends and behaviors on social media. Feluda is just the right tool which helps me do that, so maintenance of Feluda for me is just more than a chore, it makes my day to day work easy and I get to actively contribute to it. It gives me the opportunity to actively participate in conversations around what models, methods, and techniques should be prioritized for multi-modal and multilingual analysis. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Jaane Jaan Dhoondta Phir Raha by Kishore Kumar & Asha Bhosle - https://youtu.be/V3tB5Wu2ifg. (side note), the background song for our repo would be The Pink Panther Theme - https://youtu.be/VyZiIuMufTA - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
Since Python does not have any tool/action that can do semantic versioning for multiple packages in a monorepo, we wrote a custom script for it - https://github.com/tattle-made/feluda/blob/main/scripts/semantic_release_workflow.py. The code is very complicated and long, I always keep praying that this code should not break and it always keeps me on my toes. Hence, this is the file I would like to set on fire - What's your open-source villain origin story?
We’ve noticed a growing number of contributions to the repository that appear to be entirely AI-generated. Unfortunately, many of these include incorrect or buggy code, and a lot of the times there is hallucinated code about things in the codebase that don’t exist at all. The amount of superficial contributions enabled by AI has increased. This is my open source villain origin story and I see my villain character being a super paranoid maintainer who pin points every code of line that is frivolous and hallucinated by AI. It's like how every housing society has that one person who is annoyed by children playing all the time — except in this case, it’s me and AI Slop PRs. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🎀
Tech @ Zerodha
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- How to support
By using the project and contributing in any form code, documentation, feedback, or spreading the word. - A small brief about your project
Libredesk is a free, open-source, self-hosted customer support desk, a single-binary application built in Go with performance in mind. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Ship fast. Ship ugly. Ship again. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Why do you do it? For the joy of programming. Why maintain a FOSS project? Because what I wanted, exactly how I wanted it, didn’t exist. So I built it. What keeps you going? My mind is always racing with new ideas, I'm constantly excited, and writing code is the only way to keep up. Every day, I’m just waiting for the day to end so I can sit down and build that one feature / fix I’ve been thinking about. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - What's your open-source villain origin story?
There’s no truly free, modern, high-performance open-source help desk, most are outdated, open-core with heavy limitations, or overly complex to manage and deploy. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🤹
Co-Founder at [SafeDep](https://safedep.io)
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Projects:
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vet (Repo | Website)
Protect against malicious open source packages -
pmg (Repo | Website)
PMG protects developers from getting hacked due to malicious open source packages. -
xbom (Repo | Website)
xBOM builds AI, Crypto and more usage inventory (bill of materials) for a code repository through static code analysis.
Form Responses:
- How to support
Advocate the need for safeguarding the open source software supply chain.
Driving adoption among OSS maintainers, contributing code, documentation and roadmap. - A small brief about your project
SafeDep develops and maintains open source tools to safeguard an organization's open source software supply chain. vet for CI/CD and AI IDEs, pmg for developer tooling, xBOM for 3rd party code capability identification. Together they are built to help an organization protect against open source software supply chain attacks. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Keep things simple. Clear documentation for users and contributors. Software needs to be designed to enable easy community contribution. Without community, the project will die. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Started as a hobby project to solve a problem at work. Eventually saw traction outside immediate circle. Now the usage, asks and community participation keeps me going. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Paranoid by Black Sabbath. - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
./api - What's your open-source villain origin story?
Let me reverse engineer that and build OSS - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it's like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
😮
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OmniParse (Repo | Website)
Ingest, parse, and optimize any data format ➡️ from documents to multimedia ➡️ for enhanced compatibility with GenAI frameworks
Form Responses:
- How to support
GitHub sponsors - https://github.com/sponsors/adithya-s-k - A small brief about your project
Omniparse - An open-source framework that scales the conversion of unstructured data into structured data. It is designed to handle a wide variety of data formats, offering unparalleled flexibility and scalability. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
One lesson I’d tell my younger self: You can’t always build something big in a weekend, but you can build something big by committing every weekend. Be patient, stay consistent, and trust the process. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I’ve learned so much from reading and understanding open-source code—it's where I picked up best practices, libraries, and real-world problem solving. Maintaining FOSS projects is my way of giving back to that community. It also lets me build high-impact tools that people actually use, and it's one of the fastest ways to validate and iterate on startup ideas in the real world. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley ‧ 1987 - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
currently the entire v1 of omniparse , v2 coming out soon - What's your open-source villain origin story?
I built tools to solve my own problems, shared them online, and realized others found them useful too. That’s how my open-source journey and Cognitivelab began. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩
Owner and Principal at evalapply.org
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Projects:
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shite (Repo | Website)
The little hot-reloadin' static site maker from shell. -
Clojure 'Multiproject' (Repo | Website)
Layout and tooling to conveniently develop many Clojure projects in a single source repo. -
Clojure By Example (Repo | Website)
Workshop for programmers who are new to Clojure. -
usermanager-first-principles (Repo | Website)
A 'from first principles' variant of 'usermanager-example', the tutorial Clojure web application by Sean Corfield.
Form Responses:
- How to support
GOTO [evalapply.org](https://www.evalapply.org) && do that 'like, share, subscribe, sponsor' thing :) - A small brief about your project
Typically, I release software for programmer education and instruction, developer workflow / experience ('DevX'), and personal software for fun and utility (see: https://justforfunnoreally.dev and 'houseplant programming': https://www.hannahilea.com/blog/houseplant-programming . - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Be license-savvy. Pick one that protects your own time, interests, and goals as maintainer, first and foremost. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
'Learn Generously' is the guiding principle behind everything I open source to the Wild Wild Web. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Why one? Here are one zero songs... Because the lone open source 'artist's way' feels like any (or all) of that in any given week. - *Giorgio by Moroder* - Daft Punk - *It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock'N'Roll)* - AC/DC - *Daydream* - Lily Meola - *Another One Bites the Dust* - Queen - *Poison* - Alice Cooper - *Levitating* - Dua Lipa - *Hell You Call A Dream* - The Warning - *Lose Yourself* - Eminem - *Break Stuff* - Limp Bizkit. And song no. 10, for when Big Cloud co-opts your work into a money-machine (giving nothing back)... *Hot Dog* - Limp Bizkit. - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
templating.sh in shite, because of this gawdawful case statement: https://github.com/adityaathalye/shite/blob/6d30eb1df29d65945e445287798ca1ce4c987a51/bin/templating.sh#L188. - What's your open-source villain origin story?
Small crimes, er, commits led to bigger commits... and now there's not going back. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
☯️
Software Engineer
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pyodide (Repo | Website)
Pyodide is a Python distribution for the browser and Node.js based on WebAssembly
Form Responses:
- How to support
Contributions for code, docs, community examples, and design work are welcome! 🤗 Also, if you have the privilege to contribute financially, please consider donating to us on our OpenCollective page at https://opencollective.com/pyodide or via GitHub Sponsors at https://github.com/sponsors/pyodide - A small brief about your project
Pyodide is an open-source, MPL-licensed Python distribution for the browser and Node.js based on WebAssembly/Emscripten. It brings a port of CPython and the Scientific Python stack for web browsers, and provides a robust foreign function interface (FFI) between JavaScript and Python that allows data interchange between both languages. It also comes with a standards-compliant build system for cross-compiling Python packages into WebAssembly wheels, and an array of more than 290 packages and system-level libraries, and an in-browser package manager, micropip, to install and use them in WebAssembly runtimes. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
The reward of delayed gratification: sustainability matters much more than initial excitement; it is imperative to design contributing guidelines, your personal boundaries, and think about funding decisions from early days, as if your project will be successful up to a decade later – because if it does, you will be grateful for working on those structures early on. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Maintaining open-source software gives me a chance to contribute to something bigger than myself. I get to create a difference to digital heritage that future programmers can study, learn from, and build upon. The collaborative aspect also keeps me engaged, as I get to interact with people all over the world whom I would never meet or have met otherwise! - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Transylvania by Iron Maiden - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
The EIGHTEEN patches we currently use to compile SciPy to WebAssembly ;) - What's your open-source villain origin story?
I realised I've become a villain ever since the day I've had more power closing issues with the "won't fix" label than any comic book crook will ever have! :P - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🎩
Software Engineer
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Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
Use it, give feedback, donate and advocate. - A small brief about your project
Cinny enables communities to connect and collaborate in a meaningful way, focusing on simplicity and usability. We believe in building tools that bring people together without barriers. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Embrace feedback, both good and bad. It will only make your project stronger. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I enjoy the challenge of creating something that helps others and fosters community interaction. Contributing to FOSS empowers me to share knowledge and inspire collaboration. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
https://youtu.be/OMoU0Pfibc4?si=ILd4g6b_kbW4mxnA - Whenever I realize the project is not benefiting financially - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
https://github.com/cinnyapp/cinny/blob/dev/src/sw.ts - ❤️🔥 - What's your open-source villain origin story?
Refusing to merge PRs, not because they’re bad, but because nobody ever asks if I actually want the change. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
👽 - Unknown to most.
Maintainer
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Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
You can help us out by giving us a star and sharing it with others. Even better, reporting any issues you find or by raising a PR. If you feel like sponsoring the project, you can do so here:
https://ko-fi.com/alio01 - A small brief about your project
BentoPDF is a powerful, privacy first PDF toolkit that runs entirely in your browser. It's self hostable and allows you to manipulate, edit, merge, and process PDF files without any server-side processing. This means your files never leave your device, ensuring complete privacy and security. You can work with as many PDF files as you want, as often as you want. There are no artificial restrictions, usage limits, or file size caps. In just 3 months of launch we have crossed 10k stars and have been downloaded over 400k+ times on Docker. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
A lot of open issues in your project is a good thing. That just shows people are using it 🙂 - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
It just started as a small personal project. Over time it turned out to be something a lot of people rely on, so that keeps me motivated. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
JOJO Pillar Man Theme - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
bookmark-pdf.ts (Way too complex to debug) - What's your open-source villain origin story?
The moment Adobe asked me to pay just to rotate a PDF 🤣 - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it's like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🥷🏻
Linux, Networking, and more
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Projects:
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- How to support
https://mirror.albony.in/donate.html - A small brief about your project
mirror.albony.in provides CDN infra for various opensource projects and linux distributions, this is a student run service which serves 20TB+ traffic daily and thousands rely on it to get their latest opensource software.. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
You can only connect the dots while looking backwards. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I have an inner urge to contribute to FOSS in anyway I can, those traffic spikes on my servers keep me going :) - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
:}
Marketing & Growth @ Ente
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Samay (Repo | Website)
Find a time which works for everyone -
CQ2 (Repo | Website)
A tool for RFCs, designed for thoughtfulness and coherence. -
Wordamour (Repo | Website)
Personalized word search puzzle for your special someone
Form Responses:
- How to support
Wordamour - Surprise your special someone with a Wordamour and buy me a coffee (https://buymeacoffee.com/anandbaburajan) if they love it :D CQ2 - Share it with communities who might find it useful :D Samay - Use it to find a common time for a group meeting and buy me a coffee (https://buymeacoffee.com/anandbaburajan) if you found it useful :D - A small brief about your project
Wordamour - Personalized word search puzzle for your special someone. CQ2 - Tool for RFCs, designed for thoughtfulness and coherence. Samay - Group scheduling tool - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Impact and rewards often show up in quiet, unexpected ways. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I find it joyful when people use my projects, and they do. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Get Lucky by Daft Punk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NV6Rdv1a3I - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🧘
Mentor [@amfoss](https://github.com/amfoss)
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Scribe-Android (Repo | Website)
Scribe-Android is a pack of Android keyboards for language learners.
Form Responses:
- How to support
You can contribute by testing new features , submitting issues , helping in localization and also suggestion use how to make the overall keyboard experience more better. - A small brief about your project
Scribe-Android turns your phone into a mini language-learning assistant by integrating helpful tools directly into the keyboard translation, conjugation, hints, and smart suggestions all offline and open-source and ad-free. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Take small steps. Start with minor contributions and slowly fall in love with the project before jumping into big changes. When you genuinely care about what you're building, every contribution becomes satisfying. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I started as an amateur in Android development, and FOSS projects played a huge role in helping me grow. Now, maintaining a FOSS project feels meaningful because I get to give others the same opportunity to learn, improve, and become better developers—just like I did. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
I don’t have a specific theme song for the repository, but if I had to choose one, it would be “Baatein Kuch Ankahee Si” from Life in a… Metro. The song’s actual meaning is different, but it beautifully captures the idea of communication. - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
https://github.com/scribe-org/Scribe-Android/blob/main/app/src/main/java/be/scri/services/GeneralKeyboardIME.kt If I had a chance to rewrite this mess of a file I would do by all means. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it's like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🧯 constantly putting out fires, but still loving it.
Postdoctoral Researcher
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- How to support
Spread the word, contribute code/documentation, report issues, and help others in the community. Financial support is also welcome via GitHub Sponsors. - A small brief about your project
With pgmpy we aim to bring the state-of-the-art algorithms in probabilistic graphical models and causal inference to the Python data-science community. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Be selective on feature requests. Don't try to do everything. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
It's fun, it's good for the community, and I get to keep learning while doing it. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBIIQ0kP15E - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
"DAG.py". Just look at the size of that file! - What's your open-source villain origin story?
Reviewing fully LLM-generated PRs. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🧑💻
Partner at Kadalu Investments
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Chitra (Repo | Website)
2D graphics library -
Sanka (Repo | Website)
Kannada language tools and encoding converter. -
Dataframes (D) (Repo | Website)
DataFrame for D programming language -
Binnacle (Repo | Website)
A simple imperative tool for Tests and Infra automation. -
Gluster Metrics Exporter (Repo | Website)
Lightweight and efficient Prometheus(and JSON) exporter for Gluster metrics. -
Gdash (Repo | Website)
Lightweight GlusterFS dashboard.
Form Responses:
- How to support
You can use the projects and share with others, report bugs or request for new features. PRs are welcome.
If you use any of these projects or are interested in helping these projects, a contribution would mean A LOT to me. With your help, continuing my work can be sustainable. Thanks in advance.
[Sponsor](https://github.com/sponsors/aravindavk) - A small brief about your project
I maintain and contribute to many Open source projects along with the ones listed here. Please do visit my [Github profile](https://github.com/aravindavk) for libraries and the projects related to Kannada, Finance, D programming language and GlusterFS. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
First write the documentation of your future project and then start working on it. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I was introduced to FOSS when I joined local Linux user groups and participated in Linux install fests from 2006. I was very amazed by the idea of publishing our code for others to use and contribute. Since then, I have been contributing and maintaining many open-source projects. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH_RYRwVrVM - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
Documentation in code and the test cases. - What's your open-source villain origin story?
Don't have any! - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🐧🐧
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Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
We welcome and appreciate all forms of support for JupyterGIS. Whether you're interested in contributing code, reporting issues, improving documentation, or simply sharing feedback. To make it easier for new contributors to get started, we host bi-weekly hackathons focused on onboarding and collaboration. You can learn more about how to get involved by visiting: https://geojupyter.org/about.html - A small brief about your project
JupyterGIS is a JupyterLab extension designed for collaborative GIS (Geographical Information System) work, enabling multiple users to work on the same geospatial project in real-time. It facilitates teamwork by allowing shared editing, visualization, and annotation of map layers and spatial data directly within the JupyterLab environment. The extension supports seamless import and export of QGIS project files, preserving styles, data sources, and project settings for smooth transitions between desktop GIS work and cloud-based collaboration. Users can also integrate Python geospatial libraries like GeoPandas, Xarray, and Rasterio to perform custom analyses and automate workflows, making JupyterGIS a robust platform for both collaborative mapping and advanced geospatial analysis. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Find what genuinely excites you, and once you’ve pursue it, commit to it — It might overwhelm you in the start but the challenges will shape you, the wins will motivate you, and over time, every bit of effort will prove to be worth it. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or make mistakes. Stay humble, always be open to learning from anyone—regardless of their experience—and never hesitate to share your own knowledge. Open source thrives on collaboration and generosity, and so will you. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
There was no entry barrier, people were super supportive—that’s what drew me in. From not being able to afford proper meals while living away from home, to not having the means to buy a basic computer, to now being able to fulfill my responsibilities and see small dreams come to life—open source has given me a lot. I feel it's my duty to give back. What keeps me going today is the opportunity to collaborate with people I’ve always looked up to. Seeing my work make a real-world impact brings me personal joy. And beyond that, it also helps me establish myself, as I get full credit for the work I do. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Around The World - Daft Punk Quite Obvious, right? 🤧 - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
UI-Tests/ - So flaky yet so critical - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🏄🏻♂️ It might feel scary at first, but once you're in, it’s one hell of a ride.
Student
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Project Segfault (Repo | Website)
Open Source Development and Hosted Services -
Mozhi (Repo | Website)
An alternative-frontend for many translation engines -
Internet Chowkidar (Repo | Website)
Crowdsourced internet-blockage monitoring.
Form Responses:
- How to support
Fix issues in the projects instead of just submitting them. I can't solve every issue.
For Project Segfault, https://psf.lt/donate - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Don't take part in more things than you can handle - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
If I won't, who will? - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
None, just silent suffering - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
ci.yml - What's your open-source villain origin story?
An old computer that couldn't run windows - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it's like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🧹
Founder, Vibinex Code Review
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Projects:
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Vibinex Code Review (Repo | Website)
Vibinex modifies the UX for code-hosting websites like GitHub and Bitbucket to make it easier to perform high-quality code reviews. If you spend a significant part of your day reviewing pull requests, try our tool out.
Form Responses:
- How to support
To easiest way to support our work is by starring all our repositories on GitHub, and if you work at a software company where code reviews are taken seriously, ask your leaders to book a demo with us using the link on the website. Here are the links to all of our repositories: 1. Parent: https://github.com/vibinex/vibinex 2. Website and backend: https://github.com/vibinex/vibinex-server 3. Docker & GitHub App: https://github.com/vibinex/vibi-dpu 4. Chrome Extension: https://github.com/vibinex/chrome-extension Here is the link to book a demo with the founder: https://calendly.com/avikalp-gupta/30min - A small brief about your project
Vibinex is an add-on to GitHub Pull Requests that focuses on improving the experience of the reviewer. It acknowledges that human oversight is necessary in production software and provides features that actually help a reviewer understand the code faster: 1. DiffGraph: a visual diff of the dependency graph that helps you navigate through the changes with ease 2. PR Diff Personalization: highlighting of the parts of the pull request that the reviewer is familiar with to make understanding of changes easier 3. Automatic code-owners: a comment on the PR showing the list of people who would be relevant as reviewers, based on their past contributions. Unlike most other tools that perform code analysis and provide feedback on code quality, Vibinex understands that the ultimate blocker for a pull request is always a manual approval, that would only be accelerated if you make their job easier. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Make it easy for people to help you. And go out more often to talk about what you are building. No one will care about your awesome project if they never knew about its existence. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I am driven by a future of developer experience that makes it extremely easy to build and maintain high-quality software. And in my own work, which involves building & maintaining high-quality software, I try to solve my own problems with these projects. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
It would be Ludwig van Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata". It is simple, yet powerful. Subtle, yet captivating. Orthodox, yet pervasive. You can use it as focus music to help you do your work a lot better. But when you close your eyes and just focus on the music, you will feel inspired. - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
I think it would be the docs/index.tsx file. No matter how many times I revamp it, it never seems to do its job correctly. - What's your open-source villain origin story?
Three years into my career, I had genuinely fallen in love with reviewing pull requests. For every new project, PRs gave me a fast, insightful way to understand how the system worked — and it quickly became the fastest way I learned real-world software engineering. At one point, I was reviewing so many PRs that new joiners just assumed I was the tech lead. They’d come to me with questions even when they knew I wasn’t. But as my days got busier, I started reviewing fewer PRs. It wasn’t that I stopped caring — just that it took a lot of time and effort to do it right. Then came the breaking point: I was debugging a critical issue in a module I owned — something that should’ve been impossible. After hours of digging, I found the culprit: someone had changed my code… and commented out my tests. That day, I swore I wouldn’t let anyone sneak changes into my code again — CODE OWNER or not. If staying on top of code reviews meant I needed a better tool, then so be it. I’d build it myself. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
😅 My passion drives me, but all the work needed to maintain it drives me crazy.
CEO & Co Founder
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Projects:
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XenevaOS (Repo | Website)
An Open Source Operating System written with a Custom kernel from Scratch.
Form Responses:
- How to support
For direct financial donations, our Paypal account is linked in the Readme.md file. If you'd like to support us in other ways, please get in contact with us through our mail - [email protected] - A small brief about your project
An XR(AR/VR) native Operating System built with a custom kernel that focuses on efficiency and optimization for XR devices. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Good Code Practice ! To always keep the code clean, readable and functional by being straight to the point. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
We started out of hobby and passion. Then we found real world problems which our project could be a solution of. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Stairway to Heaven by Led Zepplin. - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
Every file is precious ❤️ - What's your open-source villain origin story?
Perhaps the negative comments saying our project is impractical. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it's like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🥹
Data Scientist-I at Inductive Quotient Analytics
Social Links:
Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support?
If you have ideas for applying KitikiPlot visualizations to your domain, feel free to raise an issue. If you're able to implement a feature or fix, go ahead and raise a PR! For documentation or other contributions, reach out to us via email—we’d be glad to receive your valuable input. - A small brief about your project
KitikiPlot offers intuitive visualizations for categorical sliding window data, enabling users to set focus on sliding windows. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Sleep well. Health is wealth. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I see contributing to open source as a core responsibility. I benefit from open source, giving back is the least I can do! - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
DomainOutOfKnowledge Error Occurred ! - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🌐
Co-Founder, Open Healthcare Network
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Projects:
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Open Healthcare Network - Care (Repo | Website)
Care is a Digital Public Good enabling TeleICU & Decentralised Administration of Healthcare Capacity across States.
Form Responses:
- How to support
https://docs.ohc.network/docs/contributing - A small brief about your project
Care is the flagship open-source healthcare platform developed by Open Healthcare Network (OHC). Originally launched during the COVID-19 pandemic as a crisis response tool, Care has evolved into a robust Digital Public Good (DPG) recognized by the United Nations. It is now a comprehensive Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system tailored for critical care, TeleICU, and palliative care, is fully integrated with India’s ABDM (Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission) and FHIR R5 compliant. Deployed in over 200+ hospitals across nine Indian states, Care supports real-time patient monitoring, medical device integration, and AI-powered tools like Care Scribe (voice-to-EMR) and Care Vision (automates medical readings). Today, Care is powering large-scale health programs like the 10BedICU project and Kerala’s Palliative Care Grid, supporting hundreds of thousands of patients, and helping scale compassionate, quality care to underserved regions. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
The community doesn’t grow on ideals, it grows on working code. Someone out there needs what you’re building, Don’t wait for perfect, ship what’s useful. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
It isn’t just code - it’s tools saving lives across India - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
If CARE had a soundtrack, that launch video would be track one https://youtu.be/ycVWqvZubiI?si=FJ6wcXnN_GQ4t7BK - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
A lot to be honest, we are not just a project its a lot of projects working together as one engine. - What's your open-source villain origin story?
It was March 2020. We were in shorts, hacking dashboards during a lock-down, with no roadmap, and no idea how many lives would depend on our code. We saw government systems running on Google Sheets and WhatsApp forwards. We didn’t choose the FOSS life. The FOSS life picked us. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
⭐️
Making and Breaking things, sometimes intentionally
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Projects:
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endoflife.date (Repo | Website)
Informative site with EoL dates of everything -
blr.today (Repo | Website)
This is an open-source semi-curated event calendar for Bangalore.
Form Responses:
- How to support
1. You can help us by adding a new product - https://endoflife.date/contribute
2. You can sponsor us via Open Collective or GitHub Sponsors at https://github.com/sponsors/endoflife-date or https://opencollective.com/endoflife-date
3. Tell us if your organization is using the endoflife.date data or APIs - https://github.com/endoflife-date/endoflife.date/wiki/Known-Users. Drop us a mail at [email protected] - A small brief about your project
endoflife.date is an informational website that tracks support cycles and release schedules of over 340 products.
Not all product websites can easily answer the question: "How long is this product supported?".
We track it, and showcase exact dates along with a concise summary of the release policy.
The complete website is open-source, and we are always working to make it better. We have been doing this since 2019, as a collective effort involving over 500 contributors - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Document tribal knowledge and decision rationale, so newer maintainers can learn from previous mistakes and attempts. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Because Aaron Swartz would have loved it. - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
/products/omnissa-horizon.
Broadcom recently acquired VMWare, but this acquisition did not include the VMWare End-User Computing division, which made a product called VMWare Horizon. This division was sold to a private equity firm called KKR, which renamed it to Omnissa. Since we track Horizon, I added this 600 word text to the page:
> After [Broadcom's acquisition of VMWare](https://investors.broadcom.com/news-releases/news-release-details/broadcom-completes-acquisition-vmware),
> Broadcom [divested the End-User Computing Division
> (which includes Horizon) to KKR](https://media.kkr.com/news-details/?news_id=48701629-ae4d-4d88-b1a9-90a438c6bf6c)
> and branded it as [Omnissa](https://www.omnissa.com/introducing-omnissa-the-former-vmware-end-user-computing-business/) as part of the restructuring - which is still in process.
> Omnissa and Broadcom have entered into [a reseller agreement enabling EUC to offer the "combined offering"](https://www.omnissa.com/setting-the-record-straight-euc-to-continue-to-offer-horizon-with-vsphere-and-vsan/)
> versions of Horizon SaaS and Horizon Term SKUs with vSphere Foundation for VDI. This
> [combined offering](https://kb.omnissa.com/s/article/14804) will be available
> in both Named User and Concurrent User license metrics and for 1-, 3-, and 5-year terms.
> EUC has no plans to increase Horizon list prices beyond normal annual adjustments.
Writing the above 600 words took me roughly 3 hours, because neither of the companies involved (VMWare, KKR, Omnissa, Broadcom) make it easy to get the above information. I wouldn't still set on fire though, because this information needs to be more accessible. - What's your open-source villain origin story?
The MP4 Player I owned was very slow, and Rockbox didn't support it. Rockbox was the coolest firmware, but unfortunately my device wasn't powerful enough to run it. However, there was another firmware called S1MP3 which was attempting the same, and I found refuge there. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
👾
Anchor development partner for the CoRE stack
Social Links:
Projects:
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CoRE stack (Repo | Website)
A community-based digital public infrastructure for climate change adaptation.
Form Responses:
- How to support
A number of ideas for new projects, extensions, and improvements are listed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lPleJ45JUp0iD7NZOZXrLBoCpifkJTV4/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=116413035808485050246&rtpof=true&sd=true - A small brief about your project
The CoRE stack is a unique effort to bring the latest of science, translate it to deployment, and service meaningful use-cases to address felt needs of communities. With lead research happening at IIT Delhi and in collaboration with other partners, and software development and product design anchored by CommonsTech Foundation, our goal is to create a vibrant ecosystem of contributors who can implement cutting edge research papers, improve machine learning models, and code hydrology and ecology frameworks into tools that can empower rural communities to manage their landscapes in a sustainable manner. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Document extensively and think before writing DRY or WET code: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_repeat_yourself. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
The CoRE stack can impact millions of lives by becoming a foundational platform to simplify social-ecological management for communities.
Software Engineer
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Projects:
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SciPy (Repo | Website)
Fundamental algorithms for scientific computing in Python -
LFortran (Repo | Website)
Modern interactive LLVM-based Fortran compiler -
PyDataStructs (Repo | Website)
A python package for data structures and algorithms
Form Responses:
- How to support
Contributions are always welcome to any of the projects I work on. Financially you can sponser, 1. LFortran via https://opencollective.com/lfortran. 2. PyDataStructs via my personal account. I will manage the taxes for my self. - A small brief about your project
SciPy - SciPy is an open-source Python library that extends the capabilities of NumPy to provide advanced scientific and technical computing tools. It offers modules for optimization, integration, interpolation, eigenvalue problems, algebraic equations, and more, making it a cornerstone for scientific research and engineering applications in Python. Built for performance and ease of use, SciPy enables users to solve complex mathematical problems with concise, readable code. The library is actively developed on GitHub, where its source code, documentation, and development discussions are maintained, and it remains a fundamental part of the scientific Python ecosystem. LFortran - LFortran is a modern, open-source interactive Fortran compiler built atop LLVM, designed to bring the exploratory and high-performance capabilities of languages like Python and Julia to Fortran programming. It supports interactive execution for rapid prototyping as well as ahead-of-time compilation targeting modern architectures, including multi-core CPUs and GPUs. LFortran features a full Fortran 2018 parser and offers partial support for Fortran 2023, with capabilities like OpenMP pragmas and `do concurrent` constructs, making it suitable for both legacy and cutting-edge scientific computing applications. The project is actively developed and hosted on GitHub. PyDataStructs - PyDataStructs is an open-source Python library that provides a comprehensive suite of data structures and algorithms, including their parallel implementations, aimed at both educational and high-performance computing applications. It offers a consistent and clean API for structures like arrays, linked lists, trees, heaps, graphs, and various algorithms, all thoroughly tested to ensure reliability. While primarily implemented in Python for rapid development and ease of testing, the project is also working on integrating a C++ backend via the Python C-API to enhance performance for computationally intensive tasks. This makes PyDataStructs a versatile tool for developers and researchers looking to prototype and deploy efficient algorithmic solutions in Python. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
If I could motivate my younger self, I would say, "Believe in yourself more and have the courage to contribute to larger open-source projects, like PyTorch or TensorFlow".I think when we start out, there's this fear that we’re not good enough to contribute to bigger, well-established projects. But true growth comes when we step out of our comfort zones and contribute to challenging projects. Working on such projects not only improves your coding skills but also gives you the opportunity to understand the project’s ecosystem, interact with the global community, and express your ideas more effectively. I’d also tell my younger self, "Turn your doubts into strengths; you’ll learn something from every contribution, no matter how small or big.". Contributing to large projects like PyTorch helps you improve not only your technical skills but also your understanding of real-world software engineering practices, debugging, code reviews, and collaboration skills. This bravery would not only help in technical growth but also boost your confidence and self-belief. Many times, we think we need years of experience to contribute to big projects, but once we start contributing, we learn and enhance our skills. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I initially started contributing to open-source for GSoC and to gain recognition within the community. At that time, it felt like a great opportunity to build my portfolio and get my name out there. However, over time, my perspective has shifted. Now, I contribute to open-source purely for the enjoyment it brings and the freedom it offers. I love the fact that I can work on the problems I’m genuinely passionate about, without any external pressure or expectation. The beauty of open-source is that I can keep all of my code open for everyone to see and contribute to. It’s no longer just about recognition; it's about the freedom to explore, learn, and grow through the projects I work on. In a way, my open-source contributions have become my CV, showcasing not only my technical abilities but also my dedication to creating meaningful, open, and accessible software. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
All three of my projects are related to Sciences so I would go for, "Cornfield Chase – Hans Zimmer" from "Interstellar". That's what I feel when I work on these projects. :-). - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
SciPy - All the Fortran code. LFortran - "asr_utils.h" PyDataStructs - "setup.py" - What's your open-source villain origin story?
In my first year of college, I proposed a project for GSoC to integrate complex functions into SciPy’s integrate module, specifically focusing on complex numbers since we were studying that topic in our second-semester course. However, the community rejected my proposal, so I took the same idea to SymPy. There, it was also rejected, but Aaron Meurer, SymPy's maintainer, encouraged me to try again the following year. So, I began contributing to SymPy. I worked on fixing a solver issue in SymPy, as far as I remember, and then I moved on to fix more issues. While working, I came across the idea of Markov chains in the stats module, and I really liked it. I started working on a proposal and ended up submitting several pull requests to the stats module. Eventually, three proposals came in for the same idea, so the mentor decided to test us. Luckily, two of us were selected. I was thrilled when the results came in at 11:30 PM, and the first thing I did was call my mom. She was also happy. It had been a long time since anyone from our college had cracked GSoC. :D Anyway, I worked on the project and learned a lot from my mentor—the math and algorithms I created for SymPy’s Markov chains were very fun. Then, GSoC turned into something bigger, and I started enjoying it more. Later, Ondrej (the founder of SymPy) reached out to me for another project, LFortran. This was last year, and I had my second GSoC there. In the meantime, Ondrej also recommended me to Quansight (where I started contributing to SciPy), and since then, I’ve been involved in these projects. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🚧 - Construction sign emoji. Open source is all about constructing in the open.
Maintainer @Webi | I void warranties
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Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
Webi would love contributions on new installers for cool tools. The project is now shifting towards template-generated installers and we could use all the help we could get! Check out the repo and contribute any way you can! - A small brief about your project
Webi is intended to provide easy-to-use, cross-platform, hassle-free installation process for tools that developers use day-to-day. Installation of a tool is as simple as running 'curl https://webinstall.dev/[tool_name] | {sh/ps}'. Our arsenal of supported tools include 'node','python','git','caddy' and many more! Webi is also available as a CLI-tool. You can just do 'webi node@stable' and boom! Installation done! No package manager and no permission issues. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Doing documentation chore does not make your contribution less worthy. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Honestly, for the love of the game. Most of the tools I use everyday exist because of that one dev, quietly maintaining without expecting anything in return. So, it's only right for me to try and be that dev for someone else's project. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Come and Get Your Love - Redbone - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
test.js. The amount of pain this file put me through in dryruns is pure evil! - What's your open-source villain origin story?
Tried to swat a spam bot on the webi repo. The maintainer said 'cool, fix this fish installer issue instead.' Never left. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🧘
Principal Tech Advocate
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Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
We're always looking out for technical and non-technical contributors to help us with project sustenance and continuity. If contributing to the open source ecosystem is on your radar, please reach out to us & we'd be glad to point you to the relevant resources. - A small brief about your project
Kubernetes - Open source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. Currently housed under the CNCF. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Bias for action, always. It took me a while to recognize this, but it has always held me in good stead as a contributor and a maintainer thereafter. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
As someone who worked in a corporate setup earlier, I found it hard to understand why certain things in my tool or framework were how they were, especially since a significant portion of most applications we use depend on open source. While maintaining open source projects offers me that perspective, it is my aim to raise awareness of how this is done through the platforms/avenues I have access to so that we can collectively do it better and help build technology that's truly representative of the people it serves. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
While open source already has its theme song by Richard Stallman, The Free Software Song, I think Imagine by John Lennon speaks to the ethos of open source being a borderless, collaborative ecosystem. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
It'd be a custom emoji referring to the this is fine meme by web comic artist, KC Green. Reference: https://x.com/kcgreenn/status/1613583689870446592?s=20&t=YFqCjDn2I-3uLks9Ba4rew
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Projects:
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hachi (Repo | Website)
An end to end semantic and meta-data search engine for personal data. -
malhar (Repo | Website)
Fast, Minimal and generic Fuzzy Search Index
Form Responses:
- How to support
Bug Reports are very welcomed. For financial contributions you can buy me a coffee at : https://buymeacoffee.com/eagledot - A small brief about your project
Hachi is an end to end semantic and meta-data search engine for personal data. It enables a comprehensive search by extracting independent information channels/attributes and providing a unified interface to mix and match those attributes. It also supports a high quality and fast face-recognition pipeline to tag and search a person. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Reading code from high-quality projects more early on, as good ideas/concepts transcend all pseudo boundaries imposed by job-descriptions, curriculum etc ! - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I find it to be satisfying and joyful. It is also a way for me improve my knowledge and hopefully contribute something useful back to the open-source ! Making improvements to a non-trivial problem by reading and experiments generally keeps me going. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
"Two steps from Hell" soundtrack may be! - What's your open-source villain origin story?
Community has been very helpful. i think its on me what to take in and what to ignore! - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
More like a gif: https://tenor.com/view/totoro-rain-rainy-day-good-morning-rainy-day-gif-3424596352008787858
Software Developer
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Projects:
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open-tamil-php (Repo)
Open Tamil is PHP Port for https://github.com/Ezhil-Language-Foundation/open-tamil/
Form Responses:
- How to support
- Check it out, if something is missing, create an issue - Raise a PR - Create testcases. All contributions are welcome. - A small brief about your project
Open Tamil PHP is here to address character encoding support for Tamil characters, fixing rendering issues in PDF and image generation, natively in PHP. Idea Sparked from : https://github.com/tecnickcom/TCPDF/issues/609 - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
You have to wait for sometime for something. Same not applicable for everything. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
After waiting around for a solution for this problem that many faced, I decided to start addressing it by trying to fix it. One can always try at the least. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJtDXIazrMo - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
unittest - What's your open-source villain origin story?
After wandering all around the internet, through countless forums, mailing groups and github for a fix to this PDF rendering problem, it eventually drove me to create a solution. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it's like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🎮
Founder and CEO, Bruno
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Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
Give Bruno a spin and drop us your feedback. It’s the simplest and most impactful way to support the project. - A small brief about your project
Bruno is a local-only, Git-friendly, and open-source API client built for modern developers. Unlike other tools that rely on cloud-based collaboration, Bruno leverages Git to enable seamless sharing and version control of API collections. We're rethinking the API client experience by focusing solely on what matters—providing a fast, lightweight, and focused tool without the unnecessary bloat that comes with bundled platforms. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I love building things. And with Bruno, it’s even more fulfilling to see developers love what we make. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
We don't talk about Bruno, no, no, no We don't talk about Bruno But it was my wedding day (it was our wedding day) We were getting ready, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky (No clouds allowed in the sky) Bruno walks in with a mischievous grin (thunder) You're telling this story, or am I? This is from the movie Encanto. - What's your open-source villain origin story?
I was fed up with bloated API clients and their cloud-based approach to collaboration. All I wanted was something fast, minimal, and Git-native for managing API collections. So I built it myself. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🖖
Developer
Social Links:
Projects:
-
Rethink DNS + Firewall (Repo | Website)
Network security app for Android -
Firestack (Repo | Website)
Userspace network filter and proxifier. -
Serverless DNS (Repo | Website)
The RethinkDNS resolver that deploys to Cloudflare Workers, Deno Deploy, Fastly, and Fly.io.
Form Responses:
- How to support
If UI/UX is your strength, you are very welcome to jump in reworking fragment layouts, cleaning up XML, improving/adding animations, adding Material You touches, refining typography, fixing visual inconsistencies, or proposing cleaner navigation flows. All good design ideas make a big difference.
If you're good with content and multimedia, then I'd really like your help with audio/video/text docs, guides, and tutorials for the Rethink DNS + Firewall app.
If you are too busy to spend all that time, but still want to contribute, please consider sponsoring: https://svc.rethinkdns.com/r/sponsor - A small brief about your project
Anti-censorship & anti-surveillance tools for 3 billion Android users. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Every release fixes bugs and creates new ones. The circle of life. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Because someone out there relies on it, and that's enough. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaUvFt6F0j8 - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
BraveVpnService.kt - I open it only when the stars align and logs are kind. - What's your open-source villain origin story?
My co-founder had an inspiring idea. I just stepped in… and never stepped out. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🤝
Customer Service
Social Links:
Projects:
-
Rethink DNS + Firewall (Repo | Website)
Network security app for Android -
Firestack (Repo | Website)
Userspace network filter and proxifier. -
Serverless DNS (Repo | Website)
The RethinkDNS resolver that deploys to Cloudflare Workers, Deno Deploy, Fastly, and Fly.io.
Form Responses:
- How to support
If you're a developer, I welcome security-focused commits: Integrating Indicators of Compromise or improving supply chain security or app/component security or implementing new user facing network security features or writing fuzzers or integrating runtime hardware attestations... that kind of stuff. If you're good with content and multimedia, then I'd really like your help with audio/video/text docs, guides, and tutorials for the Rethink DNS + Firewall app. If you are too busy to spend all that time, but still want to contribute, please consider sponsoring: https://svc.rethinkdns.com/r/sponsor - A small brief about your project
Anti-censorship & anti-surveillance tools for 3 billion Android users. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Buy the best ~~laptop~~ AI you can afford. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I wanted the software for myself. It needed to exist. Thanks to ~~God~~ Copilot, now it does. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
- *Azadi*, Dub Sharma, https://youtu.be/TCRHm1pmzCI - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
- Costs a lot of money: [`server-node.js`](https://github.com/serverless-dns/serverless-dns/blob/14f4e9668c/src/server-node.js). - Causes a lot of pain: [`alg.go`](https://github.com/celzero/firestack/blob/9fc2c8a5d6/intra/dnsx/alg.go). - Unconditionally, every single YAML & TOML file! God dammit. - What's your open-source villain origin story?
1. Be me. 2. Be jobless. 3. [Make grand plans](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19546159). 4. Realize you can't build it all. 5. But (like a famous Syrian Arab once said) [start poking at it](https://youtube.com/watch?v=kYfNvmF0Bqw), anyway. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it's like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
[🎁](https://apenwarr.ca/log/20211229)
Founder @ limegreen.studio | Student
Social Links:
Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
Follow me on linkedin, that's more than enough XD: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinbenito/ - A small brief about your project
All your Tamil Nadu Tech Meetups aggregated in one single place - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
open source is not that scary ( a bit yes 🥰 ) so just start building and launching and listening to the community 🚀 - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I strongly believe that great products involve a lot of great minds, and the internet is just the right place to find some great minds. You get to learn a lot from them. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
vetti pasanga vela ithunu solluravanga vetu payaga ( song: aagasam ) from soorarai potru - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
event.d.ts 🥰 ( not a big fan of typescript ) - What's your open-source villain origin story?
nothing as of now, but maybe in the multiverse: if a company rejects me and out of pure spite I build an open source version of them, that's the level of villainy I can imagine 😈 - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
💫
Founder, Maxun
Social Links:
Projects:
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Maxun (Repo | Website)
Open-source no code web data extraction platform. Instantly turn any website into API or spreadsheet.
Form Responses:
- How to support
Star the repository, contribute if you love what we’re building, or make a one-time donation: https://bit.ly/maxun-oss. Every little bit helps us keep the lights on and the robots running. - A small brief about your project
Maxun is an open-source, truly no-code web data extraction platform. It records your interactions with a website and turns them into automated robots that pull live data, track changes over time, and transform messy content into clean, structured data ready for spreadsheets, APIs, or any application. Simple enough for anyone, powerful enough for complex data extraction. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
You can’t please everyone and that’s okay. Take breaks before you burn out. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I believe everyone should have access to web data — not just those with technical skills or big budgets. I love building tools that solve real problems for people, and keeping Maxun open-source is part of that belief. We also run Maxun Cloud for those who prefer a hosted option, but the core platform will always remain free and open. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
High Hopes – Panic! At The Disco - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
server/src/workflow-management/selector.ts - universally despised. - What's your open-source villain origin story?
At my previous workplace, we needed a no-code extractor but existing tools were pricey, clunky, and code-heavy. I built one over a weekend, open-sourced it, and never looked back. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
💪 (patience + consistency)
CS Prof @ IITM, CTO @ Tarides
Social Links:
Projects:
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OCaml (Repo | Website)
An industrial-strength functional programming language with an emphasis on expressiveness and safety
Form Responses:
- How to support
Please contribute to the compiler [1] and the wider ecosystem [2,3,4]. [1] https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml/blob/trunk/CONTRIBUTING.md [2] https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md [3] https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/call-for-volunteers-to-help-maintain-the-opam-repository/16476 [4] https://github.com/ocaml/opam-repository/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md - A small brief about your project
OCaml is a powerful, expressive, and statically typed functional programming language that combines functional, imperative, and object-oriented paradigms. It features a sophisticated type system with type inference, making code both concise and safe, and its performance rivals that of C in many cases, thanks to its native code compiler. OCaml is particularly strong in areas like language tooling, formal verification, and systems programming, with robust support for abstraction and modularity. It powers industrial-scale software at companies like Jane Street and is the foundation of projects like the Coq proof assistant, the Tezos blockchain, and the MirageOS unikernel framework. For developers seeking reliability, maintainability, and strong compile-time guarantees, OCaml offers a mature ecosystem and a pragmatic functional programming experience. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
When I started, I thought being a good maintainer meant writing clever code and fixing bugs quickly. Sure, that was necessary. But over time, I learned that the real work is communication, empathy, mentorship, setting boundaries, and building a community that can sustain the project without burning anyone out. The code is the easy part—people are the challenge and the reward. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I do it because it’s one of the rare ways in software where ideas, craft, and community come together meaningfully. Open-source gave me a platform early in my career, and maintaining projects now feels like returning the favour — making room for others, especially those exploring programming languages or systems work from unconventional paths. What keeps me going is when someone says, “I learned something because of this,” or when a small improvement sparks a bigger contribution elsewhere. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
"My Shot" from Hamilton. Feels like OCaml’s anthem—it’s not just Hamilton’s big moment, but also his crew stepping up, full of ideas and fire. Like that group of bold thinkers, the OCaml community is full of people who care about building well, thinking clearly, and making their shot count. It’s not the loudest language out there, but it’s for folks who want to do something meaningful with code, together. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🌱 You plant, you nurture, others grow with it.
Self Employed Engineer
Social Links:
Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
Use it, give feedback, donate and advocate - A small brief about your project
Open Source data analysis with VIBES for everyone. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Keep building, keep talking about it. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
It's fun and I get to do it the way I'd like to. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
https://open.spotify.com/track/60a0Rd6pjrkxjPbaKzXjfq - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
https://github.com/kdqed/zaturn/blob/main/zaturn/studio/storage.py - What's your open-source villain origin story?
It's 2025, and it feels weird to be writing SQL for simple questions about my data. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it's like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
💀 (I think my least favorite parts of being a FOSS maintainer are dealing with emojis and Discord)
Hobbyist developer, CTO
Social Links:
Projects:
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DictPress (Repo | Website)
A stand-alone web server application for building and publishing full fledged dictionary websites and APIs for any language. -
listmonk (Repo | Website)
High performance, self-hosted, newsletter and mailing list manager with a modern dashboard. Single binary app.
Form Responses:
- How to support
Use dictpress to build dictionaries, glossaries etc. - A small brief about your project
dictpress is a webserver application for building and publishing fast, searchable dictionaries for any language. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Learn to say No confidently, where warranted. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I love doing it. I find it joyful and satisfying. - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
None. I put in effort to not have inflammable files. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
✊
Principal developer of calibre and kitty
Social Links:
Projects:
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Calibre (Repo | Website)
Open Source e-book manager -
Kitty (Repo | Website)
The fast, feature-rich, GPU based terminal emulator
Form Responses:
- How to support
https://calibre-ebook.com/donate or Github Sponsors. - A small brief about your project
calibre is the leading solution for managing your ebooks
outside all walled gardens. It can view, edit, convert dozens
of ebook formats and is used by millions of people from around the
world. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Ignore the trolls and do not take it personally. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I love to code and open source is the way I can spend the largest
fraction of my day, every day coding. And there is nothing quite like
the joy you get from building something used by millions of people to
make the world a very slightly better place. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🧹
Founder & CEO of Hoppscotch
Social Links:
Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
GitHub Sponsors: https://github.com/sponsors/hoppscotch - A small brief about your project
Hoppscotch is a free and open-source API development platform designed for building, testing, and documenting APIs. It's a web-based alternative to tools like Postman, Insomnia, and Paw, offering a user-friendly interface for sending requests and viewing responses. Hoppscotch emphasizes ease of use and accessibility, making it a suitable choice for developers of all skill levels. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Don’t try to do everything yourself. In the early days of Hoppscotch, I took on way too much, code, issues, PRs, design, community, documentation, all solo. It felt like my baby, and I was scared to let go of control. But open source thrives when you trust the community. Delegate. Document things clearly. Welcome contributors early and often. Your project will grow faster, stronger, and you won’t burn out doing it alone. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Because Hoppscotch started as something I needed, and it turns out thousands of others needed it too. When I built the first version, it was a simple idea: a lightweight, fast, browser-based alternative to API clients like Postman. I open-sourced it just to share it. Then the community showed up — not just with stars and likes, but with real contributions, feedback, and passion. That’s incredibly motivating. Knowing that thousands of developers use Hoppscotch every day to build better software is wild. That’s fuel. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Avengers assemble' theme is the energy I’d assign to the Hoppscotch GitHub repo during a big release or a major refactor sprint. - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
https://github.com/hoppscotch/hoppscotch/blob/main/packages/hoppscotch-common/src/modules/i18n.ts - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🛸
Creator, OpenAlgo
Social Links:
Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
Use OpenAlgo, report bugs, share feedback, and spread the word to fellow traders. Contributions like broker modules, documentation improvements, and feature ideas help the most. Even a GitHub star or a constructive issue can go a long way in making the platform better for everyone. - A small brief about your project
OpenAlgo is a personal algo trading platform for retail traders. It removes the complexity of broker APIs and provides a unified way to execute trades across multiple brokers using your favorite tools like TradingView, Excel, Amibroker, nodejs or Python. Whether you're a hobbyist trader or an advanced quant, OpenAlgo makes it easier to automate your edge. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Don’t wait for perfect. Ship early, and build openly. The community will shape your project better than any solo roadmap. Also: Document everything, make tutorials and versioning save lives! - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I thought it was cool to build something openly. It’s even cooler to architect something complex from scratch and watch it evolve over time. I enjoy the process of shaping things gradually and, most of all, simplifying complexity - making powerful tools accessible to more people. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
"Hall of Fame" by The Script - because OpenAlgo was built not by big firms, but by regular traders building something that matters. - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
Let’s flip that. Instead of setting it on fire, I’d highlight the most interesting file: blueprints/strategy.py. This is where the magic happens — the core logic that routes strategy execution, handles trade flows, and connects the trader's intent to real-world execution. It’s been refactored so many times, you can see the evolution of OpenAlgo in that one file. - What's your open-source villain origin story?
There were no open-source algo trading platforms that supported multiple brokers and multiple platforms for Indian markets - stocks, commodities, currencies - nothing. Everything was locked behind vendor paywalls. Even the simplest logic flows were hidden or monetized. That’s what really annoyed me. So I decided to break the gate-keeping and build something open, flexible, and truly for traders. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🛠️ — because you're always tweaking, patching, and improving. It's more craft than code some days.
Tech @ Zerodha
Social Links:
Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
GitHub Sponsors - https://github.com/sponsors/mr-karan/ - A small brief about your project
Logchef is a dedicated log query and visualization interface built specifically for ClickHouse. It fills a critical gap in the ClickHouse ecosystem, providing a powerful log explorer without reinventing log collection or storage. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Build what sparks your curiosity. Even if similar tools already exist, your unique perspective can add something valuable. Don’t wait for perfection - share your work with the world as it evolves. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
For me, open-sourcing the project brings in more eyes, suggestions, and issues - ultimately improving the software far more than if it were closed. I use a lot of self-hosted FOSS tools myself, and it would be incredibly fulfilling to see others using and benefiting from something I’ve built too. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Welcome to the Machine - Pink Floyd - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
✨
Freelance web developer
Social Links:
Projects:
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Poorna Extended Inscript/Remington Keyboard (Repo | Website)
Malayalam Extended Inscript/Remington Keyboard
Form Responses:
- How to support
This project comes under smc. so you can use smc channels for support.
https://smc.org.in/en/contact/ - A small brief about your project
Poorna Ensure to type all Malayalam unicode encoded characters in two layouts. Inscript and Remington. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Test well before pushing to the repo. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I love FOSS. any chance to contribute to FOSS project is personal happiness for me. I got the chance to develop Poorna for smc. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX4iUZb3w78 - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
There wasn't coding included in platform specific layouts. it was just text files with key input data. interesting thing was the web version. i had to create 3rd and 4th layer on top of the existing library.
so tweaking that was interesting and challenging it is all in index.js with the support of newly created layouts for poorna. - What's your open-source villain origin story?
So one day at work, I tried to dual-boot Ubuntu on my computer. Big mistake. It totally blew up. My friends had to help me fix my mess. But then I got obsessed with trying to make Linux do all the Windows stuff I was used to. That little project accidentally led to me starting a Telegram group, which is now helping a lot of people with their FOSS and Linux doubts.
From there, I got connected with other FOSS communities, met a ton of FOSS people, eventually i became a contributor to FOSS, beginning from localization to Poorna and so on. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it's like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
😎🤏
Social Links:
Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
If you are building a Vue-based frontend app on top of Frappe Framework, I would recommend using frappe-ui. If you are using frappe-ui, I would love to get feedback on developer experience of using it. - A small brief about your project
Frappe UI is an opinionated set of components and utilities for rapidly building Vue-based frontend apps on top of Frappe Framework. It not only ships with UI components, but also data fetching and managing utilities that are at the core of building apps. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Don't let users design solution to their problems, understand their problems and come up with your own solutions. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Honestly, I do this project because it makes my colleague's and my life easier. I am building Gameplan which is a frontend on top of Frappe Framework app. Since we are building a bunch of apps like these, it made sense to extract common code into a reusable package. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Adventure of a lifetime - Coldplay - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
https://github.com/frappe/frappe-ui/blob/main/src/components/Input.vue Tries to do too many things - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🤷🏻♂️
Founder, CEO at The Commit Company
Social Links:
Projects:
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Raven (Repo | Website)
Enterprise-first team messaging platform that seamlessly integrates with your ERP. -
Mint (Repo | Website)
Bank reconciliation made simple for ERPNext
Form Responses:
- How to support
Use our products, be vocal about bugs and contribute by creating issues and help us by writing some documentation (all managed via GitHub). - A small brief about your project
Our projects help users in the Frappe ecosystem run their businesses/operations better. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Don't build everything and anything that people want you to build. It's still your own product and you decide what to build - even though it's open source. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Because I find it fun. I don't think of maintaining these projects as "maintaining a FOSS Project". I like building products and these products just happen to be open source. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Was recently introduced to the song ["Gold Steps" by Neck Deep](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlO-KOvpPOw&list=RDtlO-KOvpPOw&start_radio=1) - seems apt. - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
`ChatStream.tsx` - What's your open-source villain origin story?
My first contribution to Frappe Framework was a spelling correction from "Submiting" to "Submitting": https://github.com/frappe/frappe/pull/16638. Yes, I am a stickler for good grammar. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
💀
Student
Social Links:
Projects:
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Tomato (Repo | Website)
Minimalist, data-oriented pomodoro timer for Android -
Wikireader (Repo | Website)
Android app for reading Wikipedia pages distraction-free -
SimplyGraph (Repo | Website)
A graphing calculator for Android
Form Responses:
- How to support
You can support me on BuyMeACoffee at https://coff.ee/nsh07 and on GitHub Sponsors at https://github.com/sponsors/nsh07 . Or, you can contribute code or translations on my projects. - A small brief about your project
- Tomato: Minimalist, data-oriented pomodoro timer for Android - Wikireader: Android app for reading Wikipedia pages distraction-free - SimplyGraph: A graphing calculator for Android - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Learn Git/VCS in general, in-depth. It will save you a lot of time later. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
FOSS has helped me a lot in my computer and programming journey. Writing and maintaining FOSS projects is my way of giving back to the open-source community what it has provided me with. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
[Daft Punk - Voyager](https://youtu.be/INbgG9M0WYE?si=WKUNdLX1jpvmDV-0), I'm Just vibing along - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
README.md - What's your open-source villain origin story?
I fixed a typo in [btop](https://github.com/aristocratos/btop), and now I'm in their contributor list 😈 - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
✏️
Product Engineer @ frappe
Social Links:
Projects:
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Frappe Learning (Repo | Website)
Frappe Learning is an easy-to-use learning system that helps you bring structure to your content.
Form Responses:
- How to support
I would appreciate more contributions - A small brief about your project
Frappe Learning is a learning management system that helps you create structured courses. Your lessons can have text content, videos, and embeds. You can also create and add quizzes and assignments of various forms. The major differentiator from other LMSs is that we have tried to keep it simple and not bloated like other alternatives (Moodle). Also, we don't enforce learning. Where other platforms allow instructors to add restrictions on how a student can move within the course, Frappe Learning has no such feature because we believe that learning can never be enforced. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
I would probably tell my younger self that patience and consistency are everything, and also to cultivate the habit of documenting regularly. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Working on this app feels very fulfilling. It feels like my way of contributing to society. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
😅 - Exhausted but very happy and at peace on the inside
Senior Engineer at Mathesar Foundation
Social Links:
Projects:
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Mathesar (Repo | Website)
An intuitive spreadsheet-like interface that lets users of all technical skill levels view, edit, query, and collaborate on Postgres data directly—100% open source and self hosted, with native Postgres access control.
Form Responses:
- How to support
Getting word out on the product, helping us gain users - A small brief about your project
Mathesar is a web application that makes working with PostgreSQL databases both simple and powerful. It empowers users of all technical skill levels to view, edit, query, and collaborate on data with a familiar spreadsheet-like interface—no code needed. It’s self hosted, can be deployed in minutes, and works directly with PostgreSQL databases, schemas, and tables without extra abstractions. The project is 100% open source, GPLv3 licensed, and maintained by Mathesar Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
You don't have to drop everything the moment someone asks for a new feature or bug fix, you can do it at your own pace and follow your own roadmap. People who value your FOSS will step up and contribute, or they'll wait for it. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
In my opinion, building software is an art, just like sketching or dancing. The sheer joy of sitting in your room as a teenager, building something just for fun, for yourself, and showing it to your friends, is a feeling I'd never forget. The reason I was able to get into building software, so easily, by myself, is entirely because of FOSS and the culture around it. This eventually lead to my career in software engineering. It always fascinated me that people just built something and gave it to everyone, for free. I understand why. Just like a musicians playing in subway stations, artists drawing on deserted walls, we build software for everyone. Maintaining a FOSS project is my way of giving back to everything the community has given me. The joy you feel when a random person around the world gets excited about something you built, is still surreal. I'm grateful for the fact that I'm able to do this full-time. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
The "Moongil Kaadugale" tamil song, from early 2000s. The lyrics reflect the way I feel about Mathesar, from the freedom seeking sentiment that compares to Mathesar's open source nature, to the imagery given of a moongil (bamboo) which is resilient and evokes a growth sentiment that compares to Mathesar's aim to give non-technical people tools to adapt to the data-driven world. - What's your open-source villain origin story?
Users expecting commercial level support & treatment. We give you what we build for free, if you need something, contribute, don't demand. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🤷🏽 Just a regular person. Most maintainers thanklessly maintain FOSS from their basement, for fun, which supports massive infrastructure in the real-world (like that xkcd comic).
Creator, Scrite
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Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
Spread the word—invite filmmakers to try the app, share video reviews, contribute guides or code, and join our Discord to help new users. - A small brief about your project
Scrite is a screenwriting software designed for Indian languages, enabling writers to create professionally formatted scripts, visually structure stories, refine narratives with ease, and generate detailed pre-production reports. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
You don't have to respond to everything immediately. Breathe. Relax. Take your time. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I love watching films, and it’s exciting to know that many of them are now being written using Scrite. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Not sure if this can be a theme song, but this is one song that got me through a lot of coding in Scrite. I have no idea why. Its my go-to song to unlock the mood to build long and elaborate stuff in the app: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=jt96zlTUyLQ - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🙏
Software Engineer at 8gears
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Harbor (Repo | Website)
An open source trusted cloud native registry project that stores, signs, and scans content.
Form Responses:
- How to support
Star the github repo. Start using Harbor. - A small brief about your project
Harbor is basically a parking lot for your container images but with guards, scanners, and a bouncer that won’t let shady images in. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
do things in parallel and touch grass more. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Apparently, sleep is optional and free stress testing of my patience. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Sangeetha swarangal eley kanaka comedy meme 🐌 - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
Entire /tests directory - What's your open-source villain origin story?
YAML broke again? Opened Harbor to “just check an issue”… accidentally became the guy people tag for replication bugs. 😅 - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it's like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🐢
Building Zasper
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Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
GitHub Sponsors @ https://github.com/sponsors/prasunanand - A small brief about your project
Zasper is a High Performance IDE for Jupyter Notebooks. It provides a minimal memory footprint, exceptional speed, and the ability to handle numerous concurrent connections. Its architecture thrives under load, delivering better throughput and stability at scale. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Do not get distracted by the bigger picture. Be opinionated. Be focused on small things. Welcome feedback but protect your project's vision. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I like building things that last and make someone’s day 10x smoother. It’s art, it’s engineering, and it’s legacy — all tangled together.
Open source lets me:
* Share my work without a gatekeeper, It helps me punch above my weight.
* Learn from real-world feedback.
* Build in public, with strangers who become friends
* See code I wrote powering tools across the world
What makes me keep going ?
* Github stars
* Pride in the work
* Curiosity to keep leveling up
* Gratitude when someone contributes back
* Stubbornness to not let the thing rot - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Tokyo Drift (Fast & Furious) - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
The release file. Something always breaks - https://github.com/zasper-io/zasper/blob/main/.github/workflows/release.yml - What's your open-source villain origin story?
I don't have one. My interactions with OSS community have been mostly nice. Someone becomes a villain when they don't acknowledge the efforts of others which inspired their current craft. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🤹🏼
Principal Maintainer—Cloud Infrastructure & Open Source at freeCodeCamp.org
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freeCodeCamp (Repo | Website)
Free coding education platform with interactive curriculum -
astro-loader-hashnode (Repo | Website)
Astro Content Layer plugin for Hashnode
Form Responses:
- How to support
You can support freeCodeCamp.org by donating to our nonprofit organization at https://freecodecamp.org/donate. Your contributions help us maintain and improve the platform, ensuring that we can continue to provide free coding education to millions of people around the world. You can also support me directly by sponsoring my work on GitHub at https://github.com/sponsors/raisedadead. - A small brief about your project
freeCodeCamp's code base is a large, open-source project that provides a comprehensive curriculum for learning Programming, Mathematics, English and more. It includes interactive coding challenges, projects, and a supportive community where learners can ask questions and share their progress. The platform is designed to be accessible to everyone, regardless of their background or prior experience. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Start small, focus on one thing at a time, and don't be afraid to ask for help. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Education should be free, and I'm stubborn enough to spend my nights making sure it stays that way. - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
Markdown files, because git is not a good tool for content management. - What's your open-source villain origin story?
The idea of collaborating with humans thousands of kilometers away, whom I have not met IRL, probably never will – but still being able to just trust with feedback and opinions is liberating. Got into a traditional CS degree, and job—discovered Three.js and freeCodeCamp in 2015 as part of skilling up for the day job. I was hooked. Quit corporate life to do FOSS and education full-time. Never looked back. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🦉
Product Portfolio Manager @HOTOSM
Head of Product & Operations @MapLibre
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HOT Tasking Manager (Repo)
Open-source coordination platform for humanitarian and community mapping at scale. -
Field Tasking Manager (FieldTM) (Repo | Website)
Plan, run, and sync field data collection using open source tools. -
MapLibre (GL JS & Native ecosystem – community & operations) (Repo | Website)
Open map rendering stack that is vendor-neutral and community-governed.
Form Responses:
- How to support
Contribute issues/PRs, share real-world user stories, help with docs and testing, and introduce potential sponsors/partners. If you run trainings or mapathons, tell us what’s hard so we turn that feedback into roadmap changes. - A small brief about your project
We build the rails for humanitarian and community mapping from remote coordination (Tasking Manager) to boots-on-the-ground data collection (FieldTM), and an open, sustainable map rendering stack (MapLibre). - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Show, don’t just tell - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Because while proprietary tools aren’t always accessible, affordable, or adaptable for the communities who need them the most, especially when budgets end or connectivity is limited. Open source gives transparency, local control, and a future where mapping tools don’t disappear just because funding does. It lets technology do good and keep doing good long after we step away. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
[A sky full of stars](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPRjCeoBqrI) - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
Dependency of a dependency of a dependency - What's your open-source villain origin story?
I stepped away from full-time roles (twice!), but open source kept pulling me back to places where tech can do real good. My villain origin? I just won’t quit. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it's like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🧭 because of constant navigation between users, contributors, and reality.
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Prav (Repo | Website)
Prav is a messaging service which can be used to exchange messages, audio/video calls, files, images and videos over the Internet. Inspired by the Quicksy app, Prav provides the convenience of registering with a phone number.
Form Responses:
- How to support
By installing Prav app (check https://prav.app), sending donations https://prav.app/donate , volunteering (https://prav.app/get-involved/) or by becoming a member of the cooperative https://prav.app/become-a-member/ - A small brief about your project
Prav is a messaging service which can be used to exchange messages, audio/video calls, files, images and videos over the Internet. Inspired by the Quicksy app, Prav provides the convenience of registering with a phone number. It is federated with other XMPP providers, while at the same time easy to use. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Help run community-run services instead of self-hosting a lot of services on your own. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I think Prav project is doing what no other project is doing - mass adoption of a federated XMPP service with convenient onboarding process. I also feel ownership and responsibility towards the project. Mass adoption of messaging services is important because messaging services are based on network effects. Otherwise, I would myself need to use proprietary services for chatting. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Frolic by Luciano Michelini - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🐦(Pigeon)
Founding Engineer/Staff AI Engineer at Jentic
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Standard Agent (Repo)
The mechanical radio of agent libraries—deliberately simple, fully composable, open source.
Form Responses:
- How to support
- Contribute: new reasoners (LATS, ToT, Plan-Act), tool providers (MCP/local/your APIs), memory backends (Redis/vector).
- Improve docs/examples and prompt quality per model.
- Fork, extend—even replace: it’s Apache‑2.0. Swap any component, ship your own flavor, or replace the reasoner entirely. If it helps others, open a PR. - A small brief about your project
Tries to be mechanical radio of agent libraries—deliberately simple, fully composable, open source. Tries to demystify agent and encourage tinkering. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Less is more. Keep the core tiny, make seams obvious, add observability early, and let patterns emerge—don’t enforce them.
If you can keep asking the question "What is the justification for your existence" to each line of code, to each function, classes, modules. Strip things away. Make it as simple as you can. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Its a lot of fun and brings me a lot of joy - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
I think the main goal is to put in effort to not have to set anything on fire - What's your open-source villain origin story?
2AM, an opaque framework, runaway token spend, and intuitive way to understand what was going on. Next day: wanted to built the smallest possible agent loop you can read end‑to‑end. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it's like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🛳️
Assistant Professor, Koita Centre for Digital Health, IIT Bombay
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pysradb (Repo | Website)
pysradb is a python package to fetch metadata associated with genome sequencing data deposited in the Sequence Read Archive (SRA) database at NCBI or European Nucleotide Archive (ENA).
Form Responses:
- How to support
pysradb repository has a set of open issues that we need help with. Anyone unfamiliar with the general world of bioinformatics or genomics can also contribute. The crux of pysradb operations happens through interaction with etuils API, so as long as you are comfortable working with APIs you can contribute to pysradb! Any contributions are welcome - PRs, issues, documentation fixes! - A small brief about your project
Biological researchers worldwide generate petabytes of genomic sequencing data, but accessing it is a nightmare. Scientists spend weeks navigating the maze of NCBI's SRA, ENA, and GEO databases just to find and download the datasets they need. The identifiers are cryptic (SRP? GSE? SRR?), the APIs are complex, and downloading terabytes of data often fails midway or is incomplete without the associated metadata! Pysradb democratizes access to the world's largest repository of sequencing information. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
When I started, I just thought I need to be the best at coding to be a good maintainer. A good maintainer is not necessarily a good coder, but an all rounder - listens, provides feedback, documents and keeps the community together rather than forcing their ideology over everyone. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I maintain FOSS project to reduce the barrier that researchers like me face - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
It has to be "Let me speak" by Indian Ocean: https://youtu.be/4NbXG9i8uFg. It is one song that I listened to in loop when I coded the first version of pysradb. - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
It has to be sradb.py. The name of the repo was inspired from a now defunct package and this file is the legacy I believe pysradb never needed. - What's your open-source villain origin story?
I got exposed to open source during my internship at SlideShare. SlideShare team was open source aficionados. That is where I learned and used Ruby on Rails and web development which lef me to GSoC 2012 and contributing a slide importer for Connexions. This was my entry point for GSoC 2013 and GSoC 2014 and I just got hooked with all the cool stuff out there in open. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it's like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🧠 - Be curious, listen, empathise and work hard!
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winkNLP (Repo | Website)
Developer friendly Natural Language Processing -
winkComposer (Repo | Website)
Composable Streaming Intelligence.
Form Responses:
- How to support
Jump into winkNLP, join discussions on winkComposer—composable streaming intelligence, contribute, star, or sponsor our work! Currently bootstrapping through consulting, so sponsorships would be a great help. - A small brief about your project
I maintain winkNLP—a dependency-free NLP library with ~2M downloads and a NASSCOM AI Game Changer award. Now we're building winkComposer: a low-code framework for real-time streaming analytics. Developers compose lightweight nodes via declarative APIs to build pipelines—from anomaly detection to condition monitoring—transforming continuous data streams into actionable insights with statistical methods, narrow AI, knowledge graphs, and LLM-driven reasoning. Enterprise-grade streaming intelligence that runs anywhere from cloud to Raspberry Pi. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Embrace openness, uphold rigorous standards, and trust the community. High standards aren't barriers; they inspire trust and attract contributors who share your values. I discovered open source in my late 50s and I'm still building at the age of 64—it is never too late to start! - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
It's all about freedom with responsibility. My builder instinct thrives in the freedom to create transparent solutions, while my maintainer mindset embraces the responsibility to ensure they're reliable and secure. When winkNLP hit over 1.5 million downloads—with IIT Delhi using it in research on STEM education for visually impaired children, Harvard for LLM orchestration, Amazon for Lakechain—I felt the deep satisfaction of achieving that perfect balance! - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
"Chak De India"—it perfectly captures our spirit of taking on challenges with a small, determined team and proving that with the right approach, you can scale greater heights. We're not just building tools—we are living the dream that quality, passion, and uncompromising standards can make our own mark and change the game entirely. - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
The automaton.js file in winkNLP that's keeping our test coverage at 99.87% instead of a perfect 100%! - What's your open-source villain origin story?
Decades building proprietary systems until presenting NLP work at leading conferences in my late 50s hit me with: "Why keep innovations locked in academic papers?" That question flipped everything. Prateek, Rachna, and I—who co-founded Graype Systems together—went from closed source to AGPLv3 to MIT, learning that real openness means trusting the community, not restricting it. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
⚖️ - The balance emoji captures my core philosophy: freedom with responsibility. It's funny how emojis have become our story: Graype Systems—the organization I co-founded—has adopted the Unicode character for the grapes emoji 🍇, winkJS draws from the wink emoji 😉, and each tells part of our journey!
Product Engineer
Social Links:
Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
More contributions, Buy Me a Coffee, Github Sponsors, etc. Any support is welcome - A small brief about your project
Glific is an open source platform built to cater to the needs of the social sector, enabling two-way communication. Non profits can use Glific to send high-quality, relevant and timely information to their communities at a low cost. Glific aims to empower social impact organizations to act decisively and quickly on grassroots information through a range of features ranging from automated responses to comprehensive analytics. Glific has been developed under Project Tech4Dev initiative of Chintu Gudiya Foundation, by multiple Tech4Dev partners in India working on the platform as core teams such as ColoredCow, Web Access, Soft Corner, and Think201 along with many contributors. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Don't try to build everything yourself, ask for help, ask people who are interested to contribute. The bigger the community, the better. Don't be attached to the code you write, or be stubborn on your solutions, the community will always give you better solutions so be ready to listen. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Because almost everything I build stands on the foundation of open source—languages, libraries, tools—all made possible by the work of others who chose to share. Giving back feels like the natural next step. The project I maintain is built for the social sector—organizations and individuals working on real-world challenges, often with limited resources. Open sourcing it makes it accessible to those who need it most. If my work can help them do their work better, that’s a win worth all the effort. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
One Love - Bob Marley - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🤩
Community Contributor & Maintainer, Magento
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Magento Open Source (Repo | Website)
Magento is a PHP-based e-commerce platform for building and managing online stores.
Form Responses:
- How to support
You can support Magento 2 Open Source by contributing to its code on GitHub, reporting issues, and helping others in community forums. Creating and sharing custom modules, writing tutorials, improving documentation, and participating in events like Meet Magento also help grow and strengthen the Magento ecosystem. - A small brief about your project
Magento 2 is an open-source e-commerce platform that allows businesses to build and manage online stores. It offers flexible customization, powerful features, and supports scalable, secure shopping experiences. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Automate everything you can. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I started out of curiosity—to learn, challenge myself, and build something useful. Over time, it became more than code. It’s about solving real problems, seeing others use it, and growing with the community. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
It would be Magento Life | Tech Song Projekt — it captures the highs, lows, and caffeine-fueled chaos of maintaining a Magento project. Absolute vibe. - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
di.xml — without hesitation. It’s powerful, but one wrong move and suddenly nothing resolves, the cache gaslights you, and you're knee-deep in stack traces trying to figure out why your class won’t inject. - What's your open-source villain origin story?
My open-source villain origin story? My PRs sat untouched for weeks—not because they were bad, but because the maintainer queue was overloaded. So I stopped waiting... and applied to become a maintainer myself. If you can’t speed it up from the outside, do it from the inside. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
😍 — because despite the bugs, the burnout, and the chaos... I still love it.
Principal Software Engineer, Creator of setup-php
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setup-php (Repo | Website)
GitHub action to set up PHP with extensions, php.ini configuration, coverage drivers, and various tools.
Form Responses:
- How to support
GitHub Sponsors - https://github.com/sponsors/shivammathur - A small brief about your project
GitHub action to set up PHP with extensions, php.ini configuration, coverage drivers, and various tools. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
“Ship early, ship often”: I do not like to wait for covering every edge case before publishing, rather I would invite real users in, learn from their feedback, and iterate. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Every thank-you comment, PR, or bug report reminds me that open source is a team sport—and that sense of community keeps me going. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Its is a bit dramatic, but Eminem - Lose Yourself - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
https://github.com/shivammathur/setup-php/blob/main/src/configs/tools.json. I would like to build a proper registry where projects can register their tools to add support in a standard way. - What's your open-source villain origin story?
It began with a burnout at a devops role implementing the same thing across different projects and it taking a long time due to how broken the tooling was before setup-php to implement PHP CI. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🎢
Software Developer
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Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
There are several ways to support.
1. Become a consortium member and help financially. https://oisf.net/consortium
2. Contribute code, tickets, documentation and help others in the community. https://suricata.io/community
3. Take the word out about the project. - A small brief about your project
Suricata is an advanced Intrusion Detection and Prevention System with enriched logs and a wide variety of features making it a pioneer in keeping up with the modern network threats and security landscape. It is reliable, performant and very fast. Suricata is developed by the Open Information Security Foundation and community members from all around the world! - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Don't be afraid to ask stupid questions and breaking things. Remember: "the master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried" - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Firstly, because I get paid to do that. 😉 There are many reasons but my favorites are: being lucky enough to get to work on an impactful project that is not only used around the world but has entire businesses set up around it (Kudos to Victor Julien!) and, because I get to do it with an incredible team and community. ❤️ - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Approved unanimously by OISF: Mahna Mahna 😃 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb47CstE7R4 - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
Hard to choose. 😛 - What's your open-source villain origin story?
I was introduced to open-source in my college during Software Freedom Day celebrations. Soon after, Operating Systems class introduced us to Linux which was fascinating to me and led to learning and discovery of everything else open-source that I know of today. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🤝
Founder, Mecha
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mechanix-gui (Repo | Website)
Mechanix OS GUI components -
mecha-make (Repo | Website)
Linux image build system for Mecha devices -
bevy_mctk (Repo | Website)
Bevy MCTK
Form Responses:
- How to support
We are looking for pilot users who can contribute to our software and hardware platform across different areas such as building open hardware extensions, kernel development, low-level GUI development and cloud services. Everyone is welcome! Just let us know what interests you the most at mecha.so/pilot and we will reach out. - A small brief about your project
At Mecha we are redefining computer hardware. Our first computer the Mecha Comet (mecha.so/comet) is a portable handheld Linux Computer built to be a swiss army knife for all portable computing needs. It has applications across enthusiasts, education, commercial and industrial use. The Comet runs on entirely FOSS and all of it is made available on our GitHub (github.com/mecha-org) - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Don't be afraid of being judged, better to do it bad than not do it at all. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I truly believe that FOSS helps push the boundaries of human civilization further in ways that you can never imagine. The amount of impact of what you end up building has no limit. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Renegades by X Ambassadors - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🧑🚀
Director of Engineering @LambdaTest
Social Links:
Projects:
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Appium (Repo | Website)
Appium is an open-source project and ecosystem of related software, designed to facilitate UI automation of many app platforms, including mobile (iOS, Android, Tizen), browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari), desktop (macOS, Windows), TV (Roku, tvOS, Android TV, Samsung), and more! -
Appium device farm (Repo | Website)
Appium 2.0 plugin designed to manage and create driver sessions on available devices. -
WebDriverAgent MCP Server (Repo)
Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides tools for building and signing WebDriverAgent for iOS. -
MCP Appium Gestures (Repo)
Model Context Protocol (MCP) server providing resources and tools for Appium mobile gestures using Actions API.
Form Responses:
- How to support
Welcome any potential first-time contributors who are curious, love open source, and have a passion to contribute to the community. Other means of contributions are also welcome through our GitHub sponsors (https://github.com/sponsors/AppiumTestDistribution) and via open-collective (https://opencollective.com/appium-device-farm). - A small brief about your project
Appium Device-farm is a powerful plugin designed specifically to manage and streamline the creation of driver sessions for connected devices, including Android and iOS real devices, emulators, and simulators. This plugin extends the capabilities of Appium, making it easier for developers and testers to automate testing processes across a wide range of device types, ensuring that applications function smoothly in diverse environments. mcp-webdriveragent – Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides tools for building and signing WebDriverAgent for iOS. mcp-appium-gestures – Model Context Protocol (MCP) server providing resources and tools for Appium mobile gestures using Actions API. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Document everything not for others, but for your future self, who will have absolutely no memory of why that clever hack in line 42 exists. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
The satisfaction of building something that others find useful. Also, nothing beats the thrill of a stranger fixing a bug you've been stuck on for weeks with a simple solution you never considered. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Fix You' by Coldplay. We spend our entire day doing that. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🧩 - Every contribution is a piece of the puzzle, and somehow they all fit together to create something greater than the sum of its parts.
Senior Software Engineer
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Circuitverse (Repo | Website)
CircuitVerse is a free, open-source platform which allows users to construct digital logic circuits online.
Form Responses:
- How to support
You can make contributions as code, documentation, localization or money -https://opencollective.com/circuitverse - A small brief about your project
CircuitVerse is a free and open-source, web-based digital logic circuit simulator. 1 It provides an intuitive platform for users of all levels to create, simulate, and learn about digital circuits without the need for any software installation. 2 Beyond simulation, CircuitVerse fosters a collaborative environment where users can share their creations, learn from others, and even allows educators to create assignments and groups. 1 The project aims to build a strong community around digital logic education, making it accessible to students, professionals, and hobbyists worldwide - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Consistency is everything - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
It helped me to become who I am today - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
🥱
Tinkerer
Social Links:
Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
Right now there is no public roadmap but a lot can be done, You can reach out to me at [email protected] and we will take it from there!
You can also [Sponsor my work](https://github.com/sponsors/tonyantony300) - A small brief about your project
It's a simple yet revolutionary p2p file transfer tool. Direct open-source alternative to MKBHD endorsed blip.net. Uses Iroh networking stack, does hole-punching and can saturate gigabit connections in future. Users could use this tool instead of weTransfer, Dropbox and google drive for real-time transfers. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
It's not scary as you think it is. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I saw the gap, thought I should fill. I have a history of volunteering and helping others whenever I can, when I got into software FOSS was kind of natural. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54hoKbTWon4 - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
https://github.com/tonyantony300/alt-sendme/blob/main/src/core/send.rs - What's your open-source villain origin story?
When I posted my project across a few subreddits and the same people kept showing up just to yell “spam!” like they were trying to stop it from reaching people who might actually find it useful. In my head, I thought for a moment to monetize and push ads just for them. Not gonna do it but it definitely fueled my inner cartoon villain for a minute. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it's like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
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Building ente
Social Links:
Projects:
Form Responses:
- How to support
Github stars :) - A small brief about your project
FOSS, End-to-end encrypted cloud for photos, videos and more. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
You cannot keep everyone happy. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
Ente is a project I started for myself, that grew into a financially sustainable company. So among other things, there's now a financial incentive to keep building. As for keeping things FOSS – we believe it's the best way to ensure that a project outlives its creators. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Speaking only for myself (and not rest of the maintainers): Manavyalakinchara – Agam. - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
.gitmodules – submodules are terrible. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it is like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
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Software Engineer
Social Links:
Projects:
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Twig (Repo | Website)
Terminal-based JSON & YAML viewer for fast, interactive exploration of large files.
Form Responses:
- How to support
Star the repo, try it on real data, and open issues when something feels off.
Bug reports, UX feedback, and performance edge cases are especially valuable.
If you’d like to support the project financially, you can also do so here: https://buymeacoffee.com/workdone0 - A small brief about your project
Twig is a terminal UI for exploring JSON and YAML files locally.
It lets you navigate deeply nested data interactively, search instantly, and stay oriented in large files without pasting anything into a browser.
It’s built for developers who live in the terminal, work over SSH, and deal with real-world data sizes. - One FOSS maintainer lesson for your younger self
Users don’t know what’s in your head, and future you won’t remember why that weird workaround exists. - Why do you do it? Why do you bother maintaining a FOSS project?
I build and maintain it because it scratches a very personal itch.
I wanted a tool that respected the terminal, worked over SSH, handled large files, and didn’t force me into a browser.
Once other developers started using it and finding value in it, maintaining it stopped being optional and started feeling like a responsibility. - If your repo had a theme song, what would it be?
Do You Feel It? – Chaos Chaos - Which file in your project would you most like to set on fire?
The original core data-handling file from the early versions.
It grew organically, solved problems just in time, and now exists purely to remind me why refactors are inevitable. - What's your open-source villain origin story?
Copy-pasting sensitive JSON into a web-based viewer over SSH, watching the browser struggle, and realizing the “free” tool had a hard file size limit.
That was the moment I decided I’d rather build something locally than keep compromising. - If you had to use one emoji to convey what it's like to be a FOSS maintainer, what would it be?
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