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It's closed source crypto software. You can make your own judgement on how acceptable that is for you. Jason Donenfeld (Wireguard author) strongly recommends ag

by berti 8y ago

It's closed source crypto software. You can make your own judgement on how acceptable that is for you. Jason Donenfeld (Wireguard author) strongly recommends against it [1]. [1] https://lists.zx2c4.com/pipermail/wireguard/2018-March/002448.html https://lists.zx2c4.com/pipermail/wireguard/2018-March/00244...

dpwm 8y ago
Worth noting there was a HN discussion on it from 5 months ago. [0] I got the impression that ludde (the author of TunSafe) seems to think that people should trust him because he wrote uTorrent and he is, for reasons not specified, opposed to releasing it open source and suggests that the author of wireguard has a "general dislike against non open-source applications." For what it's worth I really cannot understand the mentality that would lead to you creating a high-quality, benign VPN client that you have no intention to charge for or sell and not wanting eyes (which have certainly been offered) to look over it before users rely on it. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16515637 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16515637
- PlutoIsAPlanet 8y ago
  I'm still confused as to why Tunsafe isn't open-source. I feel like if he wanted people to trust it, open-sourcing it would be a way to go. There's nothing wrong with non open-source applications in general, but when it's a closed-source client of an open-source VPN server, you can't trust it, sorry.
  - ludde 8y ago
    I don't want to lose control over it. If I open source it then anyone could just take it and rebrand it and pretend it's theirs.
    - shock 8y ago
      > If I open source it then anyone could just take it and rebrand it and pretend it's theirs. Not necessarily. Depends on what license you use for the code, but if it's not a copyleft license they can't even create a (legal) copy if you maintain copyright and don't give anyone a license to copy the code.
      - mnutt 8y ago
        It's probably less about legal forks and more about bad actors forking it, inserting spyware, and buying Google ads against "vpn server" and "tunsafe". It seems like it's more of a problem for open source software targeting nontechnical users, and I imagine uTorrent had a lot of issues with it.
        berti 8y ago
        I can see that angle. We're all used to curated packages from distro maintainers, whereas Windows software is like the wild West, especially for those not so technically competent.
    - PlutoIsAPlanet 8y ago
      Then put it under the GPLv3 or something similar.
      - chrisper 8y ago
        Interestingly he just opensourced it.

by berti 8y ago

dpwm 8y ago

Worth noting there was a HN discussion on it from 5 months ago. [0] I got the impression that ludde (the author of TunSafe) seems to think that people should trust him because he wrote uTorrent and he is, for reasons not specified, opposed to releasing it open source and suggests that the author of wireguard has a "general dislike against non open-source applications." For what it's worth I really cannot understand the mentality that would lead to you creating a high-quality, benign VPN client that you have no intention to charge for or sell and not wanting eyes (which have certainly been offered) to look over it before users rely on it. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16515637 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16515637

PlutoIsAPlanet 8y ago
I'm still confused as to why Tunsafe isn't open-source. I feel like if he wanted people to trust it, open-sourcing it would be a way to go. There's nothing wrong with non open-source applications in general, but when it's a closed-source client of an open-source VPN server, you can't trust it, sorry.
- ludde 8y ago
  I don't want to lose control over it. If I open source it then anyone could just take it and rebrand it and pretend it's theirs.
  - shock 8y ago
    > If I open source it then anyone could just take it and rebrand it and pretend it's theirs. Not necessarily. Depends on what license you use for the code, but if it's not a copyleft license they can't even create a (legal) copy if you maintain copyright and don't give anyone a license to copy the code.
    - mnutt 8y ago
      It's probably less about legal forks and more about bad actors forking it, inserting spyware, and buying Google ads against "vpn server" and "tunsafe". It seems like it's more of a problem for open source software targeting nontechnical users, and I imagine uTorrent had a lot of issues with it.
      - berti 8y ago
        I can see that angle. We're all used to curated packages from distro maintainers, whereas Windows software is like the wild West, especially for those not so technically competent.
  - PlutoIsAPlanet 8y ago
    Then put it under the GPLv3 or something similar.
    - chrisper 8y ago
      Interestingly he just opensourced it.