GitHub conducted the Open Source Survey 2024, involving over 8,400 developers who engage with open-source repositories. The survey aimed to gather insights into the open-source ecosystem and revealed several trends, including a focus on security and the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Developers are also becoming more proactive in addressing harassment rather than ignoring it.
In 2017, GitHub first conducted a similar survey with 5,500 participants, who shared negative experiences in open source, such as rude behavior or lack of documentation. The latest survey included questions about the US “Secure by Design” campaign by CISA and FBI, initiated in 2023. A significant 82% of respondents considered these design practices important or very important when using open-source software. About one-third of respondents value “Security by Design” highly when choosing which projects to contribute to. Only 2% were unaware of the term’s meaning.
Key factors in selecting open-source software remain consistent with 2017 findings, including an open-source license, active development, and responsive maintainers. In the current survey, 43% of developers consider a welcoming community very important.
Diversity in the open-source community has increased over the years. Individuals from ethnic or national minorities in their birth countries now represent 18%, up from 13% in 2017. Developers have also become more proactive in dealing with harassment. Currently, 38% ignore such incidents, compared to nearly half in 2017. Blocking harassing users is more popular, rising from 24% to 34%. Approaching project maintainers, other community members, reporting to hosting services, or seeking legal assistance are also more common. Directly confronting the person involved is chosen by 28.1% of respondents, slightly up from 27.8% in 2017. Multiple responses were allowed regarding handling harassment.
AI tools are increasingly used, with nearly three-quarters of respondents employing AI tools like GitHub Copilot for coding or documentation. Specifically, 27% use AI tools frequently, 26% occasionally, and 20% rarely. Among AI users, 87% are aware of existing practices for ethics, governance, responsibility, and security related to AI, and they apply these often (31%), sometimes (30%), or rarely (25%).
GitHub has summarized additional information in a blog post and provided the study results.