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Regarding the Faker.js incident, I’m torn between two positions, however unpopular they might be: 1. If I publish a library somewhere, I expect to have control
by goblin89 5y ago
Regarding the Faker.js incident, I’m torn between two positions, however unpopular they might be:
1. If I publish a library somewhere, I expect to have control over its future versions, even if I want to effectively break it. If you have not pinned its version in a lockfile or vendored it, it’s your problem if the new version breaks the API. If you have forked it, you can republish it license permitting, but my thing is my thing. If NPM and GitHub allow themselves to take that control away from me, that sounds like news.
2. My attitude to OSS is “help yourself, then help others”: find income (consult, make a business, join a business, etc.), then contribute when you’re comfortable. If you contribute to the extent that it causes you financial ruin, please don’t contribute.
On the other hand, the alleged copying of author’s SaaS is unequivocally bad if true. One could sue in response, but presumably it might be difficult depending on local laws, and especially if the thief is in another country.
- josephcsible 5y agoMarak force-pushed to his GitHub repo to remove all prior version history. If all he did was publish a new broken version, then my opinion would be very different.
- goblin89 5y agoI believe I should be able to do this with my GitHub repo. (Obviously, anyone is free to fork and I don’t expect to be able to do anything about that.)
- andrewflnr 5y agoAbsolutely. In my view the ability to destroy something is nearly the definition of ownership.
- goblin89 5y agoIt’s even more worrying once you consider that both NPM and GitHub are owned by the same company.
- tpoacher 5y agoI don't see why not. There are perfectly valid reasons for such an act (enforcing a new licence, e.g.), and even if there weren't, it's his repo.
- jraph 5y ago> If NPM and GitHub allow themselves to take that control away from me, that sounds like news. That's the thing. When will people realize these obvious downsides when they decide to use these big, centralized platforms to distribute their software? You are using someone else's computer and this has some actual consequences. If your thing being your thing is important to you, make it so? I know the problem might be hard for NPM, but noting forces you to use GitHub.
- 3np 5y agoIf you want to maintain control over your distribution, you must self-host it.