Developing and maintaining open source software (OSS) relies on an integration of the technical (e.g. the ways in which open source code is engineered and maintained); the social (e.g. the communities formed around particular OSS projects and their values); and the organizational (e.g. formal OSS institutions, but also cross-cutting regulations, financing, and governance).

Consequently, legal and governance infrastructures shape how the digital infrastructure of open source software is developed and maintained.