How many critical software packages are maintained by a small, unpaid team (or, worse, a single person)?What happens when that person gets bored with the project... or decides to do something malicious (as in the case with a recent backdoor in the XZ compression tool)... or... gets hit by a bus?These are not only fair questions to ask... but critical as well.The reality is that we're not simply talking about a handful of key software packages here -- the entirety of our modern computing infrastructure is built on top of thousands of projects (from software packages to online services) that are built, maintained, and run entirely by one person (or, when we're lucky, 2 or 3 people).One wrong move and the Jenga tower that is modern computing comes crashing down.Source: xkcdJust to give you an idea of how widespread -- and dire -- this situation truly is, I would like to call your attention to two projects that most people don't even think about... but that are critical to nearly every computer system in use today.The TZ DatabaseDealing with Timezones in software can be tricky.  Many rules, many time zone details.  As luck would have it, a standard database (TZ Database) was built to make it easier for software projects to get those details right.And, every time those timezone details (across the world) are changed -- something which can happen several times per year, often with only a few days notice -- that database needs to be updated.What happens if those details are not updated... if the timezone data is incorrect?At best?  A few minor scheduling inconveniences.  At worst?  Absolute mayhem... computer-wise.  Times can become significantly out of sync between systems.  Which can mess up not only scheduling (an obvious issue), but security features as well (as some encryption tools require closely synced time).To give you an idea of how widespread the TZ Database is, here is just a teeny tiny fraction of the number of software projects which rely upon it:Every BSD system: FreeBSD, OpenBSD, SolarismacOS & iOSLinuxAndroidJava, PHP, Perl, Ruby, Python, GCC, JavascriptPostrgreSQL, MongoDB, SQL ServerYeah.  It's basically a list of

Argo Lovato

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The world's software is heavily reliant on a small number of critical projects that are maintained by a small team or even a single person. Failure to update these projects or the loss of the maintainer could have dire consequences for the entire computing infrastructure.

"If this one guy got hit by a bus, the world's software would fall apart."

Corporations rest on the shoulders of... a couple volunteers

That’s scary, but also inspiring that so many people on this planet are passionate about Computer Science in general and don’t do it for the money.

even though I’m a developer, I had absolutely 0 knowledge about this. I’m definitely going to do more research about this.

Really interesting and… kinda scary!