Name: When Maintainers Move On: Detecting and Communicating Abandoned Open-source Projects - Felix Lange, SAP SE
Start: 2026-10-06T14:55:00+0200
End: 2026-10-06T15:15:00+0200

When Maintainers Move On: Detecting and Communicating Abandoned Open-source Projects - Felix Lange, SAP SE

Tuesday October 6, 2026 14:55 - 15:15 CEST

South Hall 3B

Like any other software, open-source projects may become unmaintained or abandoned over time for various reasons. Unlike commercial software, the end of support for open-source projects or versions is often not announced upfront but happens gradually, e.g. due to personal reasons on the maintainer’s side. For consumers, this raises the challenge of identifying abandoned open-source components in their supply chain, particularly at scale. Identifying forks that may help remedy the situation is complex as well. For maintainers, the question arises how to best communicate a project's maintenance status or the nature of a fork to consumers.

Within this talk, we discuss repository-based metrics that we’ve found helpful in identifying abandoned Java and JavaScript projects. We also discuss how existing dependency assessment tools, such as OpenSSF Scorecard, perform in identifying abandoned components and how this scoring could possibly be improved. The talk also outlines how package registries could help improve the situation and how maintainers could document fork information in a machine-readable format.

Speakers

Felix Lange

Open Source Security Architect, SAP SE

Felix Lange is an open-source security architect at SAP focused on securing open-source consumption and contribution. In this role, he also contributes to SAP’s Secure Software Development and Operations Lifecycle. Over the past four years, he has focused on scoring dependencies... Read More →

Tuesday October 6, 2026 14:55 - 15:15 CEST
South Hall 3B

Securing the Software Supply Chain

OpenSSF Community Day Europe 2026

Felix Lange

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OpenSSF Community Day Europe 2026

Felix Lange

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