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| 1 | ++++ |
| 2 | +path = "inside-rust/2025/07/21/sunsetting-the-rustwasm-github-org" |
| 3 | +title = "Sunsetting the rustwasm GitHub org" |
| 4 | +authors = ["Alex Crichton"] |
| 5 | +aliases = [] |
| 6 | ++++ |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | +In 2024 the Rust and WebAssembly Working Group was [officially |
| 9 | +archived][archive] in the Rust project after ~5 years of inactivity with an |
| 10 | +intent to shut down the [rustwasm] GitHub Organization soon after. Although a |
| 11 | +bit later than intended the purpose of this post is to give a concrete timeline |
| 12 | +for this process in which the [rustwasm] GitHub Organization will become fully |
| 13 | +archived. |
| 14 | + |
| 15 | +The [`wasm-bindgen`] repository is going to be transferred to a new |
| 16 | +[wasm-bindgen organization][wbgorg] with new additional maintainers. All |
| 17 | +other repositories in the [rustwasm] organization are going to be archived in |
| 18 | +place or transferred to their existing maintainers if they elect to do so. |
| 19 | +Transferring [`wasm-bindgen`] will occur in the weeks following this post and |
| 20 | +archiving the organization is going to happen September 2025. |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | +The [rustwasm] organization has historically been under the purview of the Rust |
| 23 | +and WebAssembly Working Group, and given the historical prominence of some |
| 24 | +projects it contained, this post is serving as an announcement of upcoming plans |
| 25 | +for repositories in the organization. |
| 26 | + |
| 27 | +[archive]: https://github.com/rust-lang/team/pull/1489 |
| 28 | +[wbgorg]: https://github.com/wasm-bindgen |
| 29 | + |
| 30 | +## History of the Rust and WebAssembly Working Group |
| 31 | + |
| 32 | +The Rust and WebAssembly Working Group was [created in 2018][create] as part of |
| 33 | +the initiative for the 2018 edition at the time. Through 2019 the |
| 34 | +working group was quite active and helped Rust's support for WebAssembly |
| 35 | +flourish. Tools such as [`wasm-bindgen`] and [`wasm-pack`] were created as part |
| 36 | +of this effort and continue to be used to this day. After 2019 though the |
| 37 | +organization saw a drastic reduction in activity and most projects have been in |
| 38 | +maintenance mode for nearly 5 years at this point. |
| 39 | + |
| 40 | +While the working group has been officially archived for over a year now the |
| 41 | +repositories in the [rustwasm] organization continued on and continued to see |
| 42 | +some use and minor maintenance. This has perpetuated a confusing situation for |
| 43 | +users and maintainers alike where it's not clear what the maintenance story for |
| 44 | +many of these repositories are and how to move forward with the repositories |
| 45 | +that are actively in use. |
| 46 | + |
| 47 | +## Sunsetting the `rustwasm` Organization |
| 48 | + |
| 49 | +In September of 2025 the [rustwasm] GitHub organization will be archived to |
| 50 | +cease all activity within the organization. This will help clarify that |
| 51 | +[rustwasm] is no longer a central hub for all things Rust-and-WebAssembly but |
| 52 | +instead is a historical archive of efforts. |
| 53 | + |
| 54 | +The [rustwasm] organization has a number of repositories within it, most of |
| 55 | +which haven't seen any activity in quite some time. The current plan at this |
| 56 | +time is to arrange for [`wasm-bindgen`] to be transferred to a new |
| 57 | +[project-specific organization][wbgorg] and additionally add new fresh |
| 58 | +maintainers to assist with project direction going forward. All other |
| 59 | +repositories in the [rustwasm] organization will be archived or transferred to |
| 60 | +their existing maintainers if needed. |
| 61 | + |
| 62 | +### Transferring `wasm-bindgen` |
| 63 | + |
| 64 | +The [`wasm-bindgen`] project is relied on in a number of contexts today and |
| 65 | +existing users have expressed interest in both maintaining and growing the |
| 66 | +repository over time. The [rustwasm] organization is no longer a great home for |
| 67 | +this work so the plan is to transfer it out to a new home in a neutral location |
| 68 | +not owned by any one person or company. This transfer will be coupled with |
| 69 | +inviting new maintainers to the repository for improved project maintenance in |
| 70 | +addition to evolving the project. |
| 71 | + |
| 72 | +While a critical mass of new maintainers has already been reached, if you are |
| 73 | +interested in helping out with maintenance [an issue has been |
| 74 | +created][wasm-bindgen-help] to coordinate efforts around maintenance with |
| 75 | +[`wasm-bindgen`]. Feel free to leave a comment there to help out with this |
| 76 | +transition. |
| 77 | + |
| 78 | +### Archiving other repositories |
| 79 | + |
| 80 | +The current plan at this time is to archive all other repositories in the |
| 81 | +[rustwasm] organization. This includes repositories such as: |
| 82 | + |
| 83 | +* https://github.com/rustwasm/wasm-pack |
| 84 | +* https://github.com/rustwasm/gloo |
| 85 | +* https://github.com/rustwasm/twiggy |
| 86 | +* https://github.com/rustwasm/walrus |
| 87 | +* https://github.com/rustwasm/weedle |
| 88 | +* (see https://github.com/orgs/rustwasm/repositories for the full list) |
| 89 | + |
| 90 | +> **Note**: wasm-bindgen depends on crates such as `walrus` and `weedle` at this |
| 91 | +> time and won't depend on archived repositories. Depending on how maintainers |
| 92 | +> would like to organize it these dependencies may be inlined into the |
| 93 | +> wasm-bindgen repository for wasm-bindgen's needs or they may be transferred to |
| 94 | +> the new wasm-bindgen organization. Regardless wasm-bindgen will not be using |
| 95 | +> unmaintained dependencies. |
| 96 | +
|
| 97 | +If you are an preexisting maintainer of one of these repositories please reach |
| 98 | +out to have the repository transferred to you. Otherwise it's not clear at this |
| 99 | +time whether these repositories are still actively in use or how much they're |
| 100 | +relied on. The historically trusted nature of the [rustwasm] organization means |
| 101 | +it's not quite as simple as transferring these repositories to the first |
| 102 | +volunteer. Instead transferring repositories will require vetting new |
| 103 | +maintainers for trustworthiness and reliability and unfortunately the current |
| 104 | +admin of the [rustwasm] organization is not prepared to do this. |
| 105 | + |
| 106 | +If your use case critically relies on these repositories it is |
| 107 | +recommended to fork the repository. Where required it's possible to leave a |
| 108 | +message in the old README pointing to the fork. If a fork is not viable then |
| 109 | +understanding is appreciated in that the [rustwasm] organization has been |
| 110 | +inactive for over 5 years now and there are no known active maintainers to |
| 111 | +reach out to. Charting a path for each repository requires a significant amount |
| 112 | +of effort to understand current users and plan for future users and no one is |
| 113 | +available to perform this work. The goal of this effort is to do the best with |
| 114 | +maintainers/admins that still remain and while not a perfect answer it's |
| 115 | +predicted the best answer in many cases here is archiving the repository. |
| 116 | + |
| 117 | +As an absolute last resort you can reach out to [@alexcrichton] on Zulip to |
| 118 | +discuss alternatives. |
| 119 | + |
| 120 | +## Timeline for transfers/archives |
| 121 | + |
| 122 | +The [`wasm-bindgen`] repository will be transferred to a new [wasm-bindgen |
| 123 | +organization][wbgorg] in the weeks after this post. Some minor details still |
| 124 | +need to be sorted out maintainer-wise and that's all that's left to do. |
| 125 | +Afterwards a final grace period will be allowed until September at which point |
| 126 | +the [rustwasm] organization will become fully archived. Issues will be filed in |
| 127 | +various repositories giving a heads up to any interested folks indicating as |
| 128 | +such. |
| 129 | + |
| 130 | +[rustwasm]: https://github.com/rustwasm |
| 131 | +[create]: https://blog.rust-lang.org/2018/12/06/Rust-1.31-and-rust-2018/ |
| 132 | +[`wasm-bindgen`]: https://github.com/rustwasm/wasm-bindgen |
| 133 | +[`wasm-pack`]: https://github.com/rustwasm/wasm-pack |
| 134 | +[@alexcrichton]: https://github.com/alexcrichton |
| 135 | +[wasm-bindgen-help]: https://github.com/rustwasm/wasm-bindgen/issues/4533 |
| 136 | + |
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