Understanding Abandonment and Slowdown Dynamics in the Maven Ecosystem

TL;DR

This paper investigates abandonment and slowdown dynamics in the Maven ecosystem to quantify how often libraries become abandoned and how their release activity evolves over a decade. It employs a data-driven, cohort-based analysis of the Maven Central Neo4j dataset (2014–2024) to characterize abandonment prevalence and release-pattern signals, including release speed and inactivity. The findings show that abandonment is common, with substantial first- and second-year abandonment rates and distinct slowdown patterns preceding abandonment, though late bursts of releases also occur. These results inform dependency management practices and motivate tools for early warnings and ecosystem resilience.

Abstract

The sustainability of libraries is critical for modern software development, yet many libraries face abandonment, posing significant risks to dependent projects. This study explores the prevalence and patterns of library abandonment in the Maven ecosystem. We investigate abandonment trends over the past decade, revealing that approximately one in four libraries fail to survive beyond their creation year. We also analyze the release activities of libraries, focusing on their lifespan and release speed, and analyze the evolution of these metrics within the lifespan of libraries. We find that while slow release speed and relatively long periods of inactivity are often precursors to abandonment, some abandoned libraries exhibit bursts of high frequent release activity late in their life cycle. Our findings contribute to a new understanding of library abandonment dynamics and offer insights for practitioners to identify and mitigate risks in software ecosystems.