Cascading Effects: Analyzing Project Failure Impact in the Maven Central Ecosystem

This study examines failure propagation patterns within the Maven Central ecosystem, a critical software dependency repository, through a comprehensive analysis of dependency networks using the Goblin framework. Our dual-sampling methodology, investigating both top dependencies and random libraries, revealed two distinct failure propagation patterns that pose significant risks to ecosystem stability. Core infrastructure failures, particularly evident in cases like the AWS SDK family, can create immediate and widespread disruption.