Open Source Summit North America 2025

Open source software powers our world, but many of the maintainers keeping it alive are overburdened and aging out. Balancing technical, community, and financial responsibilities has become overwhelming, leading to burnout and project stagnation. This “graying” of open source raises urgent questions: Who will maintain the future?

Drawing from my experience supporting hundreds of maintainers through programs like GitHub Maintainer Programs, Mozilla Open Leaders, and SustainOSS, I’ll share real-world examples of the challenges maintainers face and the systemic barriers preventing new leadership. While emerging tools help reduce workload, sustainable projects need human stewardship. We'll explore practical solutions: lowering barriers to maintainership, strengthening leadership pipelines, and ensuring projects remain healthy for generations.

Maintaining open source isn’t just about code—it’s about people. Whether you’re a contributor, project lead, or company investing in open source, you’ll leave with concrete actions to help sustain the ecosystem. Let’s build a future where maintainers are supported, projects thrive, and open source continues to grow.

This proposed session is a panel discussion covering recent developments and likely future directions for open source software, particularly as it applies to companies that are developing and/or using open source software in their products. The invited panelists all have extensive experience that cover the most significant issues facing open source today, including licensing, security, AI, and OSPOs.

Open source software has long been utilized in automotive systems, yet the industry is experiencing a renewed focus on its strategic utilization also sparked by the so called Software Defined Vehicle. The establishment of OSPOs across numerous OEMs and Tier suppliers further signals this shift.

This panel digs into the motivations and implications of this trend. The panelist will explore the historical context of OSS in automotive, contrasting it with the current OSPO-driven approach. Key discussion points include the rationale for OSPO creation, the specific challenges they tackle – particularly in light of global sanctions, increasing connectivity demands, and the imperative for cyber resilience – and the anticipated impact on the automotive software landscape with regulated safety-critical Software Defined Vehicle systems.

Open source software has become ubiquitous and can be found in almost every codebase, but sustaining those open source projects and communities over the long-term can be a challenge. Much of the critical infrastructure that we all rely on is made up of open source projects that lack the resources to be properly maintained over the long term. Companies, public institutions, and philanthropic organizations are beginning to fill this gap, but measuring the impact of this funding is an ongoing challenge. Funders need to be able to understand the impacts to justify future rounds of funding as well as to optimize funding approaches whilst mitigating ineffective or even harmful approaches.

In this panel, we’ll talk about what we’ve learned from public funding programs in Europe and corporate FOSS funds along with measuring the impact of those funding initiatives. We’ll discuss the challenges that funders have to understand how their funding can have positive or negative impacts on open source projects with different characteristics. The audience will gain an appreciation for funding initiatives for open source projects and how to understand and maximize the impact of those initiatives.

Anyone who’s participated in an open source project before likely saw or experienced the challenge of having more requests coming in than people to attend to them, leading to frustrated, tired and burned out people. The latest regulatory efforts around the globe (the forming Securing OSS Act, CRA, and more), as different governments have come to the realization that their digital infrastructure undeniably depends on OSS, will put an increased pressure on the open source ecosystem. But, it doesn’t have to be like this! So, where do we go from here?

In this presentation, Ildiko will focus on two big areas: maintainer burnout and shortage and governments’ approach to open source around the globe, including legislations and regulations. With an overview of the current state of affairs, she will transition into highlighting the roles and responsibilities of the different players in the landscape, including open source foundations, communities, companies and governments, and next steps to take.

When software first entered the car, it was all closed source, but at the turn of the twenty-first century the complexity of software in cars exploded. Even so, OEMs and Tier Ones continued to keep their software proprietary, so much so that most Tier Ones only reluctantly gave source code to their OEM customers. With consumers now demanding the same app based experience their car that they have on their mobile phones and tablets OEMs have turned to open source software to close the gap. How did the ultra-competitive world of car manufacturers come to together to embrace Automotive Grade Linux and grow a community where Tier One suppliers, OEMs, and hobbyists can come together and build software for your next car? Walt reviews the challenges that were overcome, where we stand today, and what needs to be done to continue to grow the open source automotive community.

The LF Energy SEAPATH project has reached a major milestone with its V1 release in January 2025, establishing itself as the open-source reference for virtualized digital substations. Over the past five years, the project has grown into a structured, collaborative effort that bridges utilities, vendors, hardware manufacturers, and tech companies—unifying a traditionally conservative industry around open innovation. This talk will explore the SEAPATH journey: from its inception as a technical initiative to its current role as a strategic enabler of IT/OT convergence in energy systems. Attendees will gain insights into the challenges of engaging industry stakeholders, the best practices that have sustained growth, and the lessons learned in building an ecosystem where open-source principles drive real-world adoption. SEAPATH’s success is also a testament to the power of community-driven collaboration enabled by LF Energy, which has provided a neutral, trusted framework to bring together key players in the energy sector and accelerate open innovation.

Building and managing a successful open source project is no small feat, especially when it begins as a fork born out of the need to preserve openness. OpenSearch started as a response to the relicensing of Elasticsearch and Kibana, and over the years, it has grown into a vibrant, community-driven ecosystem. This year’s milestone of joining The Linux Foundation highlights the project’s commitment to open governance, collaboration, and long-term sustainability.

In this session, we’ll share the lessons learned from OpenSearch’s journey, exploring the strategies behind building a healthy, scalable, and inclusive open source community. From establishing clear governance models to fostering innovation with features like vector search and AI-powered capabilities, we’ll provide actionable insights for maintaining momentum and trust in open source projects.

Whether you’re starting a new open source initiative or managing an existing one, this talk offers a practical guide to navigating challenges, ensuring community alignment, and achieving long-term impact—just as OpenSearch has done.