The talk discusses the challenges faced in maintaining a minimalistic software, using the Lua programming language and the LuaRocks package manager as examples. The speaker highlights the importance of simplicity, correctness, completeness, and consistency in software design. They explain how LuaRocks, despite being a minimalistic package manager, faced issues such as complexity, compatibility, and scope expansion over time. The talk concludes by discussing the lessons learned and the need for setting boundaries, redefining completeness, and prioritizing simplicity over time in order to achieve long-term maintainability.