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Wait is decompolation ever forbidden anywhere? Why? I’m not reproducing anything until I use anything I learned producing something similar, at which point I mi

Wait is decompolation ever forbidden anywhere? Why? I’m not reproducing anything until I use anything I learned producing something similar, at which point I might be in trouble (at least if I publish the reproduction). But forbidding decompilation? That’s like forbidding someone to buy a car to take it apart and learn exactly how it was put together - which is what every manufacturer does with competitors’ cars.

Jensson 5y ago
Decomplication isn't forbidden, however a lot of acts related to decomplication are forbidden. Similarly you cannot reverse engineer a car and use that knowledge to build a replica to sell or to mass produce copies for your company to use. The special case here is that the information gained from decomplication can legally be used to fix bugs. So basically the law is there to protect small shops from having their product stolen or their licence agreement circumvented by big companies. Otherwise a big company could just buy a single licence of your software, reverse engineer it, change it so that they get features for free they otherwise would have to pay for etc.
- alkonaut 5y ago
  But either something is patented or otherwise protected, or it isn’t. You can’t sell a car whose secret sauce to high margin sales is a fender production method that will be obvious to anyone taking it apart and then cry foul when someone does take it apart. > buy a single licence of your software, reverse engineer it, change it so that they get features for free they otherwise would have to pay for etc. That seems like standard licensing? The forbidden part about unlicensed use of software is using it.
- userbinator 5y ago
  Similarly you cannot reverse engineer a car and use that knowledge to build a replica to sell or to mass produce copies for your company to use. Yes, actually you can... that's why the whole aftermarket exists. AFAIK it is trademark law that prevents you from selling a true replica, but otherwise how do you think all those compatible parts --- in fact many of them better than OEM --- were created? You can build an entire small-block Chevy and not use any parts manufactured by GM, for example. The same goes for the rest of the vehicle. Even replacement body panels are available. The main difference is that software has zero cost to copy, whereas trying to create an entire car from 100% aftermarket parts would cost many times more than the real thing.

Jensson 5y ago

Decomplication isn't forbidden, however a lot of acts related to decomplication are forbidden. Similarly you cannot reverse engineer a car and use that knowledge to build a replica to sell or to mass produce copies for your company to use. The special case here is that the information gained from decomplication can legally be used to fix bugs. So basically the law is there to protect small shops from having their product stolen or their licence agreement circumvented by big companies. Otherwise a big company could just buy a single licence of your software, reverse engineer it, change it so that they get features for free they otherwise would have to pay for etc.

alkonaut 5y ago
But either something is patented or otherwise protected, or it isn’t. You can’t sell a car whose secret sauce to high margin sales is a fender production method that will be obvious to anyone taking it apart and then cry foul when someone does take it apart. > buy a single licence of your software, reverse engineer it, change it so that they get features for free they otherwise would have to pay for etc. That seems like standard licensing? The forbidden part about unlicensed use of software is using it.
userbinator 5y ago
Similarly you cannot reverse engineer a car and use that knowledge to build a replica to sell or to mass produce copies for your company to use. Yes, actually you can... that's why the whole aftermarket exists. AFAIK it is trademark law that prevents you from selling a true replica, but otherwise how do you think all those compatible parts --- in fact many of them better than OEM --- were created? You can build an entire small-block Chevy and not use any parts manufactured by GM, for example. The same goes for the rest of the vehicle. Even replacement body panels are available. The main difference is that software has zero cost to copy, whereas trying to create an entire car from 100% aftermarket parts would cost many times more than the real thing.