# Why Modern Open Source Projects Fail

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1707.02327 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.02327/

## Key facts

- Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 7 Jul 2017.

## Built on by (most cited first, 8 of 8)

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- [Knowledge Lever Risk Management for Software Engineering: A Stochastic Framework for Mitigating Knowledge Loss](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.23257/) (2026)
- [Decoupling Code Complexity from Newcomer Participation: A Causal Study of AI Coding Agent Adoption in OSS](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.01810/) (2026)
- [Making Cross-Continental Federated Learning Repeatable with FLIP: a Multi-Application Study](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.36001/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Open source is experiencing a renaissance period, due to the appearance of modern platforms and workflows for developing and maintaining public code. As a result, developers are creating open source software at speeds never seen before. Consequently, these projects are also facing unprecedented mortality rates. To better understand the reasons for the failure of modern open source projects, this paper describes the results of a survey with the maintainers of 104 popular GitHub systems that have been deprecated. We provide a set of nine reasons for the failure of these open source projects. We also show that some maintenance practices -- specifically the adoption of contributing guidelines and continuous integration -- have an important association with a project failure or success. Finally, we discuss and reveal the principal strategies developers have tried to overcome the failure of the studied projects.