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Which software projects have proven to be the most maintainable over many years?
I'm looking for some examples of codebases that have managed to be very maintainable for many years. What kind of initial (and continued) design decisions were made? I would especially appreciate it if I could get suggestions for more in depth readings about each software project. It would also be nice to see projects adressing a range of problems and domains.
- jbreckmckye 9y agoThis is a difficult one. It's easy to point to codebases that indeed have been maintained for many years - but that doesn't mean they were designed well. Look at a project like SVGEdit. It's by far and away the most popular open source project for in-browser SVG manipulation. It is the "most maintained" repository for any software in its niche. It is also a five thousand line blob of jQuery code. That's an extreme example, but the point is: a project could become beacons for OSS development not because it is amenable to change, but because it is a very useful or prominent tool.