Software forges are important components in the conception, distribution and maintenance of software in general, and on open source software in particular. In France, more than 70 public software forges hosted by research institutions have been found in 2024. Such huge number of software forges, offering most of the time limited interaction with the academic community, are also mostly inacessible from software developers.

The presentation will provide an overview of the existing forges and practices in Higher Education and Research in France, and posits a number of observations and points of concern as regards the current situation. It will also highlight the first actions taken to mitigate some identified issues.