The Linux Foundation Member Summit 2025

Presented by: Dawn Foster, CHAOSS
Additional author/researcher: Matt Germonprez, University of Nebraska Omaha

Over the past few years, there has been an increase in hard forks that have been the result of corporate decisions made regarding OSS project structures. These so-called rug pulls from companies driving OSS projects can impact contribution and user dynamics, resulting in hard forks. This talk and our research is motivated by the growing trend of relicensing events and other structural changes to OSS projects that are resulting in hard forks originating from contributors and users of the original project.

We’ll explore the impact that these rug pulls have on the trajectories of the projects, individuals, and organizations involved through case studies of 3 relicensed projects and their resultant hard forks. We’ve found that hard forks resulting from relicensing events tend to have more organizational diversity than the original projects, especially when the forks are created under a foundation, rather than by a single company. The talk will dive into the data and implications to help the audience understand the consequences of relicensing both for the company driving the relicense and the risks of disruption to individuals and organizations contributing to and using the projects.