Maintainer Month 2026: Celebrating the People Who Keep Open Source Running

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Update: the OSI has published a page dedicated to maintainers.

May is Maintainer Month once again, a time for the Open Source community to recognize, support, and celebrate the maintainers who keep critical digital infrastructure running. The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is proud to join GitHub and a global community of contributors in honoring the individuals who steward and sustain Open Source projects.

Open Source powers modern infrastructure, research, education, government, cloud computing, AI, and nearly every software stack used today. Yet many of the projects underpinning this infrastructure are maintained by small teams – or even individuals – working with limited time and resources.

From reviewing pull requests and triaging issues to mentoring contributors, coordinating releases, and responding to security vulnerabilities, maintainers are the people behind the projects we all rely on every day. Their work is often invisible, but its impact is everywhere.

How the OSI protects maintainers

The OSI plays a critical role in protecting the Open Source ecosystem and supporting maintainers. Through its work on licensing, policy, advocacy, and education, the OSI helps ensure that maintainers can continue building Open Source software in an environment that remains open, collaborative, and sustainable.

Some of the ways the OSI supports maintainers include:

• OSI Approved Licenses: We provide a venue for the community to discuss Open Source licenses and we maintain the OSI Approved Licenses database.
• Policy & Standards: We defend maintainers by educating legislators and policy makers about the Open Source ecosystem, its role in innovation and its value for an open future. We have engaged with NTIA, CISA, and policy makers of the EU Cyber Resilience Act, the EU AI Act, and the US Securing Open Source Software Act.
• Advocacy & Research: We lead global conversations with maintainers, developers, non-profits, and lawyers to improve the understanding of Open Source. OSI investigates the impacts of ongoing debates from artificial intelligence to security.

OSI events for Maintainer Month

The OSI is participating in a series of conversations and community events that highlight the evolving landscape of Open Source governance, policy, and sustainability. These sessions bring together maintainers, policy experts, and ecosystem leaders to reflect on the challenges and opportunities shaping Open Source in 2026 and beyond.

• May 7 — The State of Open Source in 2026
  OSI Executive Director Duane O’Brien joins Gaël Blondelle (Eclipse Foundation) and Matthew Weier O’Phinney (Perforce OpenLogic) in a webinar that explores global Open Source adoption trends, maintenance and security challenges, and the impact of regulation and digital sovereignty on Open Source at scale.
• May 18-19 — Open Source Founders Summit
  OSI’s EU Policy Analyst Jordan Maris will once again participate at Open Source Founders Summit to give a workshop and engage with founders and builders about what it takes to create sustainable, successful Open Source companies.
• May 22 — Age Assurance Laws and Open Source
  Featuring Katie Steen-James, OSI’s Senior US Policy Manager, Anne Dickison (FreeBSD Foundation), and Margaret Tucker (GitHub), this panel examines how age assurance regulations are affecting Open Source ecosystems across the US, Brazil, and Europe, and how maintainers can engage in policy shaping.
• May 30 — NOSS (Nosso Open Source Summit)
  Nick Vidal, OSI’s Head of Marketing and Community, joins the first ever NOSS (Nosso Open Source Summit), focused on strengthening Brazil’s Open Source ecosystem. The event is being organized by Maria Antônia Maia and Camila Maia from Cumbuca Dev.

The maintaine.rs project continues

In 2025, one of the highlights from Maintainer Month was the publication of the maintaine.rs book, a curated collection of stories from Open Source maintainers across the ecosystem.

Since its original launch, maintaine.rs has evolved into an independent community project governed by its authors and is now available at: https://maintaine.rs

Celebrating maintainers

Maintainer Month is ultimately about visibility, appreciation, and sustainability. Open Source succeeds because maintainers continue showing up – often quietly, consistently, and collaboratively – to keep projects secure, reliable, and accessible to everyone. As we celebrate Maintainer Month 2026, now is the time to recognize their contributions and invest in the long-term health of the Open Source ecosystem.

Thank a maintainer. Support a project. Share a story. Participate in the events happening throughout the month. And remember to recognize the people who keep Open Source running every day of the year.

To learn more and explore programming, visit maintainermonth.github.com.

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