CrOSSD2 at SAINT 2025

On April 4, 2025, it was that time again: the Social Artificial Intelligence Night (SAINT) brought together researchers, industry partners, and AI enthusiasts at the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences to discuss current developments in the field of artificial intelligence. Among the participants was the project CrOSSD2 – Critical Open-Source Software Database, represented with a poster presentation that drew considerable interest.

Why CrOSSD?

Open-source software is the backbone of digital infrastructures—not only in the private sector but also in public institutions. Despite its immense importance, there is often a lack of methods to systematically assess the “health” of such projects. This is exactly where CrOSSD2 comes in.

The project aims to build a central database that evaluates the quality, stability, and sustainability of open-source projects—especially those considered critical. It takes into account both quantitative factors (e.g., GitHub activity, number of open pull requests) and qualitative aspects (e.g., community engagement).

Technical Overview

The poster presented the technical architecture of CrOSSD2, which is divided into four key components:

• Data Collection: Metadata is aggregated from various sources such as Libraries.io, GHTorrent, and other code hosting platforms.
• Metrics & Evaluation: These data points are used to automatically generate scores that reflect a project's condition across various dimensions.
• Health Database: A central platform continuously updates these evaluations and stores historical trends.
• UI & Integration: Results are displayed through a user-friendly interface and are planned to be integrated into IDEs, CI/CD pipelines, or other developer tools.

A practical example: The poster showed an analysis of GitHub activity for microsoft/vscode, illustrating how many pull requests remained open over the last six months—a potential indicator of community responsiveness and project maintenance.

Looking Ahead

Exciting extensions are already on the roadmap:

• *Launch of social science research through qualitative interviews
• Expansion of project coverage, especially netidee-funded OSS projects
• Use of NLP and large language models to assess complex aspects like sustainability or funding
• UI improvements for an even more intuitive user experience

The presentation at SAINT was a great success—many visitors were impressed by the systematic approach and the relevance of the topic. CrOSSD2 is sending a strong message for more transparency, trust, and sustainability in the open-source world.

More information about the project and access to the CrOSSD platform: crossd.tech For more on the SAINT conference: saint.fhstp.ac.at