Ask HN: How to make self-hosted software without open sourcing it?

#1

Post by picklevick » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 11:18 PM UTC

Are there examples of ways one can make software that companies can host internally without open sourcing the code to said software?

Looking for some guidance as to how to be able to do that.

Cheers

Re: Ask HN: How to make self-hosted software without open sourcing it?

#2

Post by wmf » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 11:32 PM UTC

Don't ship the source code?

Re: Ask HN: How to make self-hosted software without open sourcing it?

#3

Post by picklevick » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 11:52 PM UTC

wmf wrote: post #2

Don't ship the source code?

How would I give users the ability to self-host the software then?

Re: Ask HN: How to make self-hosted software without open sourcing it?

#4

Post by lordkrandel » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 12:13 AM UTC

picklevick wrote: post #3

wmf wrote: post #2

Don't ship the source code?

How would I give users the ability to self-host the software then?

Either you use a compiled language like C/C++ and distribute the binaries or you obfuscate the source when you distribute it.

Re: Ask HN: How to make self-hosted software without open sourcing it?

#5

Post by numpad0 » Thu, Jul 16, 2020, 1:11 AM UTC

License under proprietary terms?

Like “This software is copyrighted by Picklevick Corp, you don’t hold any rights we grant you mere permissions to use it. Don’t poke your head around it”.

You can’t have GPLv2/v3 or similarly licensed components in it though. If you do and later caught, you’ll be obligated to either cease its use and distribution, or completely revise your term and supply the source code to recipients(you don’t have to put it on the Internet)