Your free GitHub Copilot access has expired for open source maintainers

[trapd00r]

I was awarded free access to copilot (I guess 12 months ago) but now my access has expired, even though it says in the docs:

Once awarded, if you are still a maintainer of a popular open source project when your initial 12 months subscription expires then you will be able to renew your subscription for free.

I'm still maintaining all the same project so why, and can I have it back?

[Akash1134]

Hi @trapd00r ,

Could you please explain the type of Copilot access you have? Is it a part of the Student Developer pack?

See Expiration and Renewals - Student Developer Pack

[255kb]

OP refers to the free access offered to maintainers of popular open source projects.

[trapd00r]

No, I got it because I maintain open source projects.

[2dareis2do]

I am also interested in using co-pilot as someone who works in open source including Drupal. How can i access this is an open source developer on an individual account?

[trapd00r]

Any update on this please?

[bovine3dom]

Hi @Akash1134, I'm experiencing a similar issue. I maintain a fairly popular project called Tridactyl that I know some of your colleagues use on a daily basis.

In January and February I got (slightly spammy) emails saying that my access to copilot had been renewed. Today I got an email saying that my access would end soon.

I don't really mind losing access, but it would be nice to have a bit more information about why Tridactyl/I no longer qualify :)

[reneroth]

+1 here, still maintaining the same project

the only thing I could imagine is that maybe elgibility is calculated by percentile in whatever repository metric is applied, and my little project had been left behind by larger ones :)

[reneroth]

from the page you linked:

[reneroth]

so no support tickets for us free users :(

[2dareis2do]

I don't think Microsoft are really that interested in supporting Open Source

[reneroth]

I mean they're sure as fuck interested in using our open source projects for their products! It's not that hard to get copilot to spit out +500 lines from my project verbatim, least they could do in return is let me keep my free license. Spirit of open source and everything.

[john-preston]

Same thing, looks strange. Sudden email that the free access has expired, although I still maintain and actively develop the same project (24K stars, 5K forks). I don't believe it doesn't fall into "popular" category anymore. What has changed?

[rgomezp]

+1 I maintain some fairly large open source projects. Sad to have gotten that email. Was fun while it lasted though!

[255kb]

Same boat here, nothing changed on my side, still maintaining the same project (under a separated org: mockoon)

[whynowy]

Same here....

[CopperEagle]

Hey @trapd00r

According to the FAQ, the free access for open source maintainers is limited to 12 months. So I'm afraid they probably won't renew the offering :(

[trapd00r]

But.

[xmatthias]

I've gotten the renewal news in the last few months (it'll renew monthly, and the comment says that the eligibility will be reevaluated monthly).

What the conditions are - and if I'm close to "fall out" is however totally opaque.

[oscarbenjamin]

I think that there is a bug in GitHub identifying who is a "maintainer" of a project. I can see now that in the web UI GitHub thinks I am a "member" rather than a "maintainer" of sympy:
sympy/sympy#26528 (comment)

Same boat here, nothing changed on my side, still maintaining the same project (under a separated org: mockoon)

Yet if I look here you are displayed as a "member" of mockoon rather than a maintainer:
mockoon/mockoon#1322 (comment)

Maybe that's why the open source maintainer program does not offer copilot to you: it does not consider you to be a "maintainer" of the project that you maintain.

It used to show me as a "maintainer" like it does for this person:
mesonbuild/meson#13117 (reply in thread)

[DaiQiangReal]

@Akash1134

[DaiQiangReal]

Same here