We are happy to have now released the Maintainerati Berlin Event Report and Session Notes. The reports are the work of 80 maintainers, 15 note-takers, and a production team of six people. They present a summary of the many, and varied, discussions that took place on 24 May 2023 in the Spreespeicher Center in Berlin. Why make these reports? Maintainers face many challenges in their daily work⁠—both technical and human⁠.

Visual notes by Carlo Gilmar When I first co-organised a Maintainerati in Amsterdam in November 2017, I underestimated just how much my fellow maintainers need each other’s support. Meeting face-to-face is so important in building connections, friendships, and collaborations. In my own personal case, I was drawn to run the event as I had one problem that I hoped to find answers to (refactoring a well used, five-year-old codebase) and I felt like I was alone, facing a problem I couldn’t believe was unique, but nonetheless seemed to be.

Maintainerati events are pretty exciting. They’re a rare chance for leaders of all kinds of OSS projects to come together and discuss the many, many challenges they face running their communities. The pain of conflict, the joy of collaboration, and the sheer difficulties of getting—and retaining—enough hands on deck are just some of the topics mulled over at Maintaineratis. At the end of the day, attendees leave feeling full of ideas, with renewed enthusiasm for their work, and happy to be supported by their community.