Open source code?

[MKRhere]

Hi, I just ran into this repo today, and found a few issues:

• Code was missing.

Steps to reproduce:

• Open this link in a browser: Keypirinha (Any modern browser would do; I recommend Firefox).

As you can see, there is only a README.md file. Perhaps you've had trouble with git?

The easiest way to push repos to git is as follows:

cd <project-folder>
git add .
git commit -m "Commit Message"
git push

Let me know if you need any help reproducing the problem.

[DonSYS91]

I noticed the same thing, it looks like the developer just wrote the README.md and still pushing the code, slow internet i think, who knows

[ueffel]

There are no technical difficulties with git, the core application is not open source, see http://keypirinha.com/faq.html#is-it-open-source but the packages are.
Github is just used for its issue tracker at the moment for the core application.

[MKRhere]

Correct. My question was indeed "why?".

Keypirinha is distributed for free

The author makes it abundantly clear that this is freeware and you don't have to pay anything except donate on your own will. In this case, and considering official packages have been open sourced, it raises the question of why one should/would trust this. The licensing model of this project is very dubious.

A previous issue #199 was opened with the same question.

Why not opensource it?

The application itself is proprietary and distributed as a freeware.

The question was not "is the application open source?", but "why not open source?"

I'm hoping for a better response. :)

[polyvertex]

The author makes it abundantly clear that this is freeware and you don't have to pay anything except donate on your own will. In this case, and considering official packages have been open sourced, it raises the question of why one should/would trust this. The licensing model of this project is very dubious.

@MKRhere well, it seems there is little chance you would find any answer satisfying since there is actually little point in trying to demonstrate the rational behind a proprietary license. Hence no debate to have. But I'll take it... Keypirinha like many other projects comes with a license that is clearly stated. The intent/purpose of the project is clearly described on its website as well and its current state is the result of community-based feedback for a pretty significant part (i.e. specifically, that implies verbose interactions between the author and KP's users). There is no technical/commercial/whatever catch in the project itself and its distribution model, but would you find it "dubious" for some reason, nobody forces you to use it at all (no pun intended). "Free", for that matter can be translated in several ways. Another way to gain more "trust" on a software is to filter its network communications, as well as fully scanning it with your AV.

[MKRhere]

Alright, I can understand, but I'm simply wondering why you wouldn't consider open sourcing the core. I don't see any reason to hold back, and see no specific answer towards that (I'll take any reasonable answer). Anyway, feel free to close this issue if you will.

[polyvertex]

My answer was of the most reasonable one I could come with considering the nature of your question really. I'll try harder for the "posterity" so that it can be linked for future questions but please consider this as a final answer. There are open-source alternative to Keypirinha and you are already aware of at least one of them.

Why would a software project be automatically be pushed in the open-source ecosystem in the first place? You probably should ask yourself this question before expecting any kind of answer from the author of a proprietary software. You should also definitely consider it from the perspective of the author themselves.

Open-source licenses are not the Good and proprietary licenses are not the Bad. There are many good and wrong reasons why one would choose either over the other.

Many seem to be driven by the manichean ideal of it, without any actual intention nor personal motivation to contribute to project's source code in the first place. And would you have any, functional features of Keypirinha are open-source already and accept contributions, which would be a great way for you to show your interest in the project itself and, as importantly, to show you may have sufficient skills and experience to contribute to the core app. Are you an experienced C++ developer? Do you have any intention to contribute to this project or any already open-sourced C++ project at all?

While the code of the core of Keypirinha is pretty conventional, its general design and the way it is featured is not and I would have to spend much time dedicated to Keypirinha inspecting pull requests and explaining why I may/cannot accept a contribution. Time I could not spend on the development of core features. This is true for every small project, this is especially true for Keypirinha due to its non-mainstream design.

If the motivation behind your question is solely the concern of privacy or that the software itself could harm your system and/or the integrity of your data, a legit concern, why would you choose to work with a proprietary OS in the first place? And would you be in the case of those who unfortunately have no choice at their work place, the current proprietary status of Keypirinha would then become the least of your concerns.

[MKRhere]

Alright, I think this is a reasonable answer. I may not entirely agree with it, but it's a good enough reason.
Thank you for taking the time to leave a detailed answer, and apologies for my initial tone of approach :)

[oxysoft]

Actually what would most likely happen is that someone would make a fork where people would contribute there instead. Someone more motivated to turn this software into legendary material would take the torch from you and take it upon themselves to spend more time than you. If you truly care about Keypirinha's future and it's value, you should open source the project. Put the ego aside and put it into the people's hand.

[polyvertex]

@oxysoft I guess my mistake was to give a reason actually... Also, in case it helps, please consider the well-known "Be Cordial or Be on Your Way" ©. Thank you

Since the initial question got an answer and considering this question has been asked and answered already in #33, I'm locking this thread, for obvious reasons.