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>> Someone at Microsoft needs to go back to the first commit and track down every bit of code that was taken, and investigate the origin of the code, and proper

>> Someone at Microsoft needs to go back to the first commit and track down every bit of code that was taken, and investigate the origin of the code, and properly restore the copyright notices. It is specifically to avoid these issues that most companies don't go through the trouble of open-sourcing their code. Not at all saying it's wrong to enforce licenses I'm just pointing out the obvious that companies that don't want to get into legal trouble avoid the issue altogether and discourage open source. A well known company I used to work for requires legal to sign-off anything that has to be open-sourced. A startup I currently work-off had to be audited for license compliance before a round of funding. One primary reason I see is that most engineers don't understand licensing very well. They don't understand when it's safe to use GPL and when it's not.

bargl 11y ago
Even though Microsoft has had some issues like this, I'm glad they are open sourcing their code. It's a huge risk for a company like them, but I'd take a poorly open sourced codebase, where they can fix the problems over closed source. Hopefully they'll learn and get better at it as they go along. I really hope they don't get deterred from open sourcing their code and stop the current trend.
smackfu 11y ago
And license auditing is usually just a matter of grepping for license blocks or LICENSE files. Basic due diligence. It will not catch a case where someone takes one file and strips off the license header.
WalterBright 11y ago
At D one huge reason we use github is to establish an audit trail of where code that gets incorporated comes from, which: 1. discourages people from committing code that isn't theirs 2. if there is bad code committed, we can determine the extent of it and so take corrective action 3. it's a great defense against false claims of bad code
JoshTriplett 11y ago
A similar requirement would apply to misappropriated third-party proprietary code. If you're copying code from elsewhere, document where you got it from, and preserve all licenses. Don't delete copyright notices and license headers, ever. That's neither ridiculously complicated nor burdensome. Complying with other license conditions is another matter, and that's why many companies have people or groups whose primary job is to understand and deal with those kinds of issues. But basic due diligence about copyright and license headers needs to be fundamental 101-level understanding.

bargl 11y ago

Even though Microsoft has had some issues like this, I'm glad they are open sourcing their code. It's a huge risk for a company like them, but I'd take a poorly open sourced codebase, where they can fix the problems over closed source. Hopefully they'll learn and get better at it as they go along. I really hope they don't get deterred from open sourcing their code and stop the current trend.

smackfu 11y ago

And license auditing is usually just a matter of grepping for license blocks or LICENSE files. Basic due diligence. It will not catch a case where someone takes one file and strips off the license header.

WalterBright 11y ago

At D one huge reason we use github is to establish an audit trail of where code that gets incorporated comes from, which: 1. discourages people from committing code that isn't theirs 2. if there is bad code committed, we can determine the extent of it and so take corrective action 3. it's a great defense against false claims of bad code

JoshTriplett 11y ago

A similar requirement would apply to misappropriated third-party proprietary code. If you're copying code from elsewhere, document where you got it from, and preserve all licenses. Don't delete copyright notices and license headers, ever. That's neither ridiculously complicated nor burdensome. Complying with other license conditions is another matter, and that's why many companies have people or groups whose primary job is to understand and deal with those kinds of issues. But basic due diligence about copyright and license headers needs to be fundamental 101-level understanding.