oliverdavies.uk/content/node.53d1af45-bb51-4e4a-a2b9-b732bc9dc8ea.yml

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      <p>Yesterday, I wrote about <a href="/daily/2024/06/13/vetting-third-party-open-source-software">some things I look for when evaluating open-source projects</a>.</p>

      <p>One thing I said was "When was the most recent commit and release?".</p>

      <p>If a project hasn't had many recent commits, it could be outdated or no longer supported.</p>

      <p>Alternatively, it could be considered feature complete and not getting new features, and only getting bug fixes and maintenance updates.</p>

      <p>I see this a lot with Vim plugins that were written several years ago and are now minimally maintained and updated, but getting no new features.</p>

      <p>This happens in the Drupal space, too, when people wrote a module for a project which they have since completed, or no longer work with that client or for that company.</p>

      <p>If there are at least commits for security compatibility, such as new versions of PHP or node, that's a sign the project is in a maintenance phase.</p>

      <p>If there are no recent commits, the project could be dead and I'd carefully consider if you want to add or use it.</p>

      <p>Something that could help is if maintainers are explicit about what state their project is in.</p>

      <p>Add a note to the README.md or CONTRIBUTING.md file saying if the project is feature complete or what the maintenance state is.</p>

      <p>If the project is no longer maintained, you can also document it and potentially archive the repository too to show that it will no longer be updated and to avoid confusion.</p>

              
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      <p>Yesterday, I wrote about <a href="/daily/2024/06/13/vetting-third-party-open-source-software">some things I look for when evaluating open-source projects</a>.</p>

      <p>One thing I said was "When was the most recent commit and release?".</p>

      <p>If a project hasn't had many recent commits, it could be outdated or no longer supported.</p>

      <p>Alternatively, it could be considered feature complete and not getting new features, and only getting bug fixes and maintenance updates.</p>

      <p>I see this a lot with Vim plugins that were written several years ago and are now minimally maintained and updated, but getting no new features.</p>

      <p>This happens in the Drupal space, too, when people wrote a module for a project which they have since completed, or no longer work with that client or for that company.</p>

      <p>If there are at least commits for security compatibility, such as new versions of PHP or node, that's a sign the project is in a maintenance phase.</p>

      <p>If there are no recent commits, the project could be dead and I'd carefully consider if you want to add or use it.</p>

      <p>Something that could help is if maintainers are explicit about what state their project is in.</p>

      <p>Add a note to the README.md or CONTRIBUTING.md file saying if the project is feature complete or what the maintenance state is.</p>

      <p>If the project is no longer maintained, you can also document it and potentially archive the repository too to show that it will no longer be updated and to avoid confusion.</p>

              
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