4 ms·

Malus is not a real project btw, it's a parody: “Let's end open source together with this one simple trick” https://pretalx.fosdem.org/fosdem-2026/talk/SUVS7G

by rvnx 7mo ago

Malus is not a real project btw, it's a parody: “Let's end open source together with this one simple trick” https://pretalx.fosdem.org/fosdem-2026/talk/SUVS7G/feedback/ https://pretalx.fosdem.org/fosdem-2026/talk/SUVS7G/feedback/ Malus is translating code into text, and from text back into code. It gives the illusion of clean room implementation that some companies abuse. The irony is that ChatGPT/Claude answers are all actually directly derived from open-source code, so...

otikik 7mo ago
They accept real money though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6godSEVvcmU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6godSEVvcmU
LelouBil 7mo ago
First time I hear about this, it's interesting to have written all of this out. Now this makes me think of game decompilation projects, which would seem to fall in the same legal area as code that would be generated by something like Malus. Different code, same end result (binary or api). We definitely need to know what the legal limits are and should be
- quadruple 7mo ago
  Semi-related, someone made basically Malus-for-San-Andreas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBQJYMKmwAs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBQJYMKmwAs
  - LelouBil 7mo ago
    That's fascinating ! I think it's worth posting as its own submission (if it wasn't already).
- throawayonthe 7mo ago
  i think most game decompilation projects are either openly illegal or operate on "provide your own binary" and build automatic tooling around it
  - LelouBil 7mo ago
    Yes, because we have clear precedent that distributing Art (the assets) is illegal by current copyright law. But do we have precedent (in any country) that distributing different source code that compiles to the exact same binary is illegal ?
chillfox 7mo ago
It's not a parody when they accept money and deliver the service.
- monooso 7mo ago
  Dumb Starbucks begs to differ. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumb_Starbucks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumb_Starbucks
  - tomjakubowski 7mo ago
    And we know they're right, because that lawyer signed a contract on TV saying he'd be liable if they were wrong.

by rvnx 7mo ago

otikik 7mo ago

They accept real money though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6godSEVvcmU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6godSEVvcmU

LelouBil 7mo ago

First time I hear about this, it's interesting to have written all of this out. Now this makes me think of game decompilation projects, which would seem to fall in the same legal area as code that would be generated by something like Malus. Different code, same end result (binary or api). We definitely need to know what the legal limits are and should be

quadruple 7mo ago
Semi-related, someone made basically Malus-for-San-Andreas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBQJYMKmwAs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBQJYMKmwAs
- LelouBil 7mo ago
  That's fascinating ! I think it's worth posting as its own submission (if it wasn't already).
throawayonthe 7mo ago
i think most game decompilation projects are either openly illegal or operate on "provide your own binary" and build automatic tooling around it
- LelouBil 7mo ago
  Yes, because we have clear precedent that distributing Art (the assets) is illegal by current copyright law. But do we have precedent (in any country) that distributing different source code that compiles to the exact same binary is illegal ?

chillfox 7mo ago

It's not a parody when they accept money and deliver the service.

monooso 7mo ago
Dumb Starbucks begs to differ. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumb_Starbucks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumb_Starbucks
- tomjakubowski 7mo ago
  And we know they're right, because that lawyer signed a contract on TV saying he'd be liable if they were wrong.