About this episode

The episode discusses the process of sunsetting open source projects with insights from experienced guests.

Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast! CHAOSScast – Episode 123 This episode of the CHAOSScast features hosts Harmony Elendu and Alice Sowerby, along with guests Stefka Dimitrova and Dawn Foster, discussing the process of sunsetting open source projects. Dawn and Stefka share their extensive experiences and the importance of managing the lifecycle of open source projects responsibly. They delve into the specifics of the 'Getting Started with Sunsetting an Open Source Project' guide from Dawn's series of practitioner guides, which aim to help practitioners, not just experts, interpret data and improve their project health. Key topics include identifying inactive projects, the responsible steps for sunsetting, and the crucial role of communication within the community. The episode also touches upon metrics to determine project activity and archive responsibly, highlighting that the process goes beyond simply pressing an 'archive' button. Hit download now to hear more! [00:00:23] The hosts and guests introduce themselves. [00:02:09] Dawn explains the purpose of the CHAOSS Practitioner Guides. [00:04:54] Harmony asks Dawn what inspired her…

People in this episode

Hosts: Harmony Elendu, Alice Sowerby

Guests: Stefka Dimitrova, Dawn Foster

Topics covered

• sunsetting open source projects
• project lifecycle management
• community communication
• inactive projects
• project metrics

Keywords

• open source
• sunsetting
• project management
• community
• inactive projects
• metrics
• archiving

Sponsors

Sustain

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Sustain, VMware

Books & works: Getting Started with Sunsetting an Open Source Project

More episodes of CHAOSScast

• Episode 132: Please take the CHAOSScast Impact Survey - and we're taking a break · April 16, 2026 · 3 min
• Episode 131: Repo-Health - a tool built on CHAOSS metrics · April 2, 2026 · 36 min
• Episode 130: Connecting Open Source and Research in Australia with Rowland Mosbergen · March 19, 2026 · 29 min
• Episode 129: Using Metrics in your OSPO · March 5, 2026 · 42 min
• Episode 128: Guest Episode - GR-OSS OUT Podcast: Building Welcoming Communities with Stacey Potter · February 19, 2026 · 22 min
• Episode 127: Community Health metrics for Commercial Open Source · February 5, 2026 · 35 min

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