Many individuals have prepared instructions and vital information for their families in case of their sudden passing. For Daniel Stenberg, this entails sharing passwords for his Google and GitHub accounts. As the founder of curl, an open-source internet transfer engine released by Stenberg in 1996, used by millions daily, he aims to ensure the continuity of the project when he steps back. Stenberg states, “I just want to make sure that everything is there so the day I go away, someone can take over.”
Like Stenberg, pioneers in open-source software from the 1990s and early 2000s facilitated a transformation in the tech industry. These innovators advocated for collaborative development and distribution of software for no cost, breaking the dominance of big tech firms.
While some founders like Loris Degioanni, who transitioned from contributing to Wireshark to helming cybersecurity firm Sysdig, are proactively ensuring succession, others face challenges finding successors due to a potential shortage of younger developers willing to engage in unpaid open-source work.
Leaders like Linus Torvalds recognize the aging of key contributors and the need to attract younger talent to sustain open-source projects. The transition to new programming languages like Rust and the use of plug-ins in projects like Falco offer potential solutions to attract fresh developers.
Some projects opt for foundation oversight to ensure continuity, while others, like curl, remain independent. Encouraging young people to participate in open source is crucial, not only to sustain projects but also to provide them with career-enhancing opportunities in established ecosystems.
Loris Degioanni remains hopeful about the future of open source, acknowledging that the joy of creating software and seeing it utilized by a community is enduring, even as the early pioneers of open source age.