[Feature]: Full Open Source Release #178
Replies: 3 comments 6 replies
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I'd like to second this request, appending that the current Discord and Steam integrations pose that we should trust that Cocoon isn't doing anything with these connections. Note that I don't think that Cocoon is doing anything malicious, but it's fundamentally impossible to know without access to the source code. To further parrot what I mentioned on the original feedback thread, a copyleft license like a GPL or even a more permissive license like MIT would not mean that the project would be required to move into an open development structure, just because the code is open doesn't mean that you're obligated to have open PRs. This would also not put monthly donations at risk; you're not obligated to release the project at any rate more regular than you currently are or even expose the codebase you're currently working on, so long as the current release (beta? whatever) has a source that's auditable. |
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I have to agree. Asking people to connect third party accounts to them is a big ask without any way to view the source, and kind of fishy if you ask me. Giving software like this access to sensitive data is just foolish. If you don't know the dev personally then why should you trust them with something so important unless you can audit whether or not they're doing anything with it that they shouldn't be? |
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Can you post your audit logs on every application you have ever logged into? Stop fearmongering cocoon. there may be good benefits to open source, but implying cocoon is doing malicious things with user data is entirely made the fuck up. |
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I understand the sentiment, and I have talked about it in the past but I'll give an updated explanation. Cocoon started as a passion project to make something I wanted to use for myself. I honestly never even expected it to reach the heights it has, and I am extremely grateful for that. Because of that, I am able to work full time on this project (most days I put in 8+ hours, for the past 11 months now) and it's been a life-changing thing for me in terms of purpose and motivation. I provide this app for free to anyone who wants to use it, with absolutely zero pay walled features, which I think is fair. I get the risk of that, in that I could change my mind at any time, but that's just a consideration the user has to make when choosing to use this application or not. I'm not entirely against open source myself, I think it's a great thing - but I think it's also something pushed onto developers and their work with an ounce of shame if they don't comply, which I do think is personally a bit of an entitled opinion to have (not talking about anyone here of course, but it has happened with Cocoon before). I also think currently, open source is dead. Licenses mean nothing anymore, nothing stops someone from 0 knowledge and 0 effort to get AI to take your work, rewrite it a bit differently and then profit off it with no proof that its not theirs, and I think I'm just personally not a fan of other people putting in zero effort and profiting off my work. I'd be lying if I said money isn't a factor, and it's thanks to our Donators that I am able to spend more time on Cocoon than a normal full-time job would require. I am extremely grateful for the open source projects built around this community too, and I actively support many of them. I think these other people working on projects don't get the love and money they deserve, and I think if I were in the position it would make my current living situation very hard, so I do commend them for everything they do. I commend that they do it for the love of the game, and it's not that I don't do my work for the love of the game or with expectations of money, but it has now become a factor as I do like surviving and eating and having a roof over my head. The team behind Cocoon spends a LOT of time to bring this app and ecosystem to you guys, and a lot of money for servers and workers. (bit of a personal idea here but I think people think rules are special for software development and expectations. the same way if someone made a piece of art or do a job which requires labor, you wouldn't expect it for free (which we DO do!), and then you certainly wouldn't expect them to teach you or show you how they do it. I see free software as a gift, you take it or leave it, but certainly don't possess any automatic right to control it or change it)) On top of that, maintaining a public repository isn't just an afterthought, it's something that takes time, effort and intent from the very beginning. I'm not downplaying the negatives here at all and I recognise that these risks could be negated if Cocoon were open source, but in my personal opinion it doesn't outweigh the negatives for ME personally. I have made a promise that if for whatever reason I can no longer work on Cocoon, it will be open sourced or passed on, and once again that's just something you have to trust. I'm just here to make a great, free application for anyone to use - and beyond that it's up to the user and their beliefs on if they want to use it or not. We have had considerations about going open source, but for the time being this is our stance, and there's no telling what the future holds. I hope that makes sense. I will keep this discussion open for any talks about it but this is our stance until said otherwise - and to clarify I do agree with everything everyone has said (other than the fact that account linking is "fishy" xd), but I just don't think it's for me or the team right now. |
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I totally understand and respect your take, even if it's a bit disappointing to hear. Thanks for considering it as an option! |
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As a fellow game mods / tools dev, "It's for the money" is a perfectly acceptable answer. It also means you and your team keep improving and gaining experience, and whatever comes next after cocoon gets to be entered with much more knowledge from all the time working on cocoon. Thank you for cocoon! <3 |
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You're approaching it the wrong way i believe. Now i understand your fear from seeing your work stolen and illegally indexed within the slop factory. It is false to say licenses mean nothing anymore. Yes, AI bots do crawl on Git websites, index and later redistribute stolen code but it is still very much illegal. The thing is that it most likely already happened no matter what as well. You're uploading the binaries to GitHub, and bots only have to pass those through fernflower or similar tools to get a usable and close-enough codebase. They most likely already stole off Cocoon. A good solution would likely be to switch away from Github to go into your own Forgejo/Gitea instance pretty much. Keep in mind as well you've got the advantage of now being a very well known launcher, even being the reference one for dual-screen handhelds like the Ayn Thor and the one pretty much everyone installs first. It will be known if a counterfeit releases. Timings, feature similarities, identical decompiled bytecode etc. I mean even within this very own community we have a good example, we've been able to see how ProfMags stole GameNative within his closed-source vibe-coded fork fairly easily. A good way to fight counterfeits too has historically been to hide easter eggs that will get ripped off, either within the app or the codebase. If you notice a counterfeit release, just like you could do now, don't hesitate to issue a DMCA request. Licenses have a legal value. A good candidate would be GPL-v3 which enforces both proper attribution and open-source derivatives. You may want to add a no-AI clause of some sort. As for the money, open-source doesn't have to mean you're unable to make profits. Take minecraft mods for instance, many are open-source but either get paid by ad revenue on the websites or through donations the same way as Cocoon currently. Now it is fair when it comes to the constraints of maintaining a repo, though it's up to you to see how you'd handle it really. Nothing forces you to allow PRs if you don't want to, though obviously you'd lose out on the collaborative aspect a fair bit. There are still other ways to allow people to collaborate though, like reversing the approach and looking for content to ask for permission within forks. If it's the fear of dealing with AI slop within issues/PRs, know that you're already subject to it through the discussions tab as well. But yeah, it doesn't have to be any more painful than your current approach really. |
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It's not stealing code directly. It's that if Cocoon was open source, anyone could come along and say to AI steal this backend and rewrite it. No one would know the code is the same as AI will "change" everything except how it works - and that's what I don't want. Licenses don't mean anything, if AI did do that, I couldn't DMCA it as it would be too "different" or not provable. It just opens a whole pandoras box that I would spend more time fighting than I'd want to. I've already had people access our APIs without permission and decompile the app to steal things, I'm just not comfortable with making it so easy. There's nothing legal or licensed about licenses anymore, it's dead in my opinion. As for contributions, I wouldn't want that. We have an internal team and flow. We take suggestions or come up with ideas, we concept them in Figma, we implement them, we test them for multiple versions with Supporters, then we maintain them. This isn't suitable for just Open PRs that will mostly be AI slop or people who don't understand the code base like I do. I'd rather not spend my time sifting through them, reviewing them, iteratively testing them, changing them to actually be well-structured and integrated if required, and then maintaining all of these features all for it to not be thought out or follow our design rules to our standard. I'd rather do things myself even if it takes longer as the team and I understand Cocoon, its purpose, design rules, scope, etc. The only clear benefit to me is transparency, with everything else being negative and vastly outweighs that. And I do understand that but it's just not for me. |
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Hi @inssekt, could you at least publish your thumbprint for your signed APKs ? I can't find it on the cocoon site. |
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What does this relate to?
Other
What problem would this solve?
Welp, seems like the other Cocoon discussion was nuked and you cannot access it anymore. It's quite of a shame, because there were a lot of good feature reqeusts on there.
But now onto this important request:
Please release the complete application source code under a recognized open source license (GPLv3, MIT, or Apache 2.0). This would position Cocoon as a truly competitive and community-trusted alternative to other emulation frontends.
Why?
Users need assurance that the application respects privacy and doesn't include hidden telemetry etc. Full source code access builds this trust. (Especially because of Steam and Discord Integration)
While competitors like iiSU similarly operate without full source code release on Github, making Cocoon open source would establish clear differentiation and a good competitor. More and more users prefer transparent software for emulation frontends.
Open source licensing ensures community contributions, security audits, and continuity if original developers step away. This protects users who invest time configuring their setups.
More Benefits!
What would you like Cocoon to do?
Note: If immediate full release isn't feasible, please provide a timeline and milestones.
What do you do today?
There is currently no open-source frontend alternative.
Additional context
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