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Notepad++ leaves SourceForge

notepad-plus-plus.org

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Re: Notepad++ leaves SourceForge

#61

Post by CountSessine »

tzs wrote: post #22
melvin wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, it's a law and they're following it. Sourceforge and Google are not responsible for that. As far as North Korea, um... so, when the US kills 25 Afghans at a wedding ("oops! my video-game like predator drone readout made it look like they were definitely terrorists") what does that mean? I guess France should stop exporting Notepad++ to the US. Correct? No, the issue is whether 'exporting' a text editor to N.…

"No, the issue is whether 'exporting' a text editor to N. Korea would REALLY make any difference. Perhaps the clueless, bribed, caviar-stuffed and prostitute-sucked morons in Congress think so, but most of them can hardly even send an email." Think about this for a few milliseconds before ranting. How would you write a law that blocked the bad "exports" while allowing the good "exports" through? It's much less work t…

I wouldn't. I'd just take all of the open source projects like notepad++ and host them outside the US giving non-US hosting companies business, and leave all of the text editors using super-secret hi-tech military encryption on US hosting servers.

Re: Notepad++ leaves SourceForge

#62

Post by jluxenberg »

dtf wrote: post #3

Google does the same: http://code.google.com/projecthosting/terms.html Pretty ridiculous in this day and age.

From section 5 of http://code.google.com/projecthosting/terms.html: "regulations require that all postings of open source encryption code be simultaneously reported by email to the U.S. government"

Makes me want to organize a protest where everyone posts an implementation of ROT13 on GitHub and sends email to the govt. Of course, it would probably fall on deaf ears...

Re: Notepad++ leaves SourceForge

#63

Post by smackfu »

melvin wrote: post #58
smackfu wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha. Try a professional project named "Kate".

I don't understand, do you mean there's something wrong with the name 'Kate' (KDE Advanced text Editor), that the appearance and conduct Kate developers are not professional, or that there is something unprofessional about the program?

The name, obviously. Doesn't matter what it stands for, it's a girls first name.

Re: Notepad++ leaves SourceForge

#64

Post by caf »

jmillikin wrote: post #19

SourceForge doesn't have much choice in this, unless they're willing to violate US law. For what it's worth, SourceForge allows projects to determine whether their downloads are subject to export laws, and to disable the blocks[1]. Support for this was added in early February, several months before the notepad-plus-plus.org domain was registered. There's no technical or legal reason why N++ had to move off SourceForg…

Note however than any project that involves encryption at all - including just linking to encryption libraries or using OS-provided functions - cannot tick that box.

This doesn't seem to apply to Notepad++, but these days it applies to a great deal of apps. Any that can make SSL connections, for a start.

Re: Notepad++ leaves SourceForge

#65

Post by caf »

melling wrote: post #57
mquander wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason I made point 1 is because our default decision should always err on the side of freedom. Why would you bother restricting anything unless you can identify some benefit to restricting it? It's more work, and maximizing freedom often results in positive results when the freedom turns out to be useful in a way you didn't expect. For all I know, not a single man in North Korea knows what the hell Notepad++ is.…

After reading through the other posts, I don't think Notepad++ was ever restricted by export controls. Sourceforge initially didn't allow them to specify that the software was not restricted by law so they restricted everyone. So, other than software that contains encryption, what software is restricted?

Any software that uses encryption. If you link to OpenSSL, or call out to /usr/bin/gpg, you're toast.

Re: Notepad++ leaves SourceForge

#66

Post by caf »

smackfu wrote: post #63
melvin wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand, do you mean there's something wrong with the name 'Kate' (KDE Advanced text Editor), that the appearance and conduct Kate developers are not professional, or that there is something unprofessional about the program?

The name, obviously. Doesn't matter what it stands for, it's a girls first name.

So is "Cat".

Re: Notepad++ leaves SourceForge

#68

Post by mojuba »

Locke1689 wrote: post #33
mojuba wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Impatient Hacker English?

No it's just bad English and lazy. When I publish something that I write in German and expect people to read it, I go through the trouble of running it through a German language spellchecker. Doing otherwise is lazy and rude to your audience.

...and after running a spell checker on your text, put one or two insingificant but noticeable typos to let your readers know you're so cool you don't need a spell checker ;)

Re: Notepad++ leaves SourceForge

#69

Post by icco »

blantonl wrote: post #48
DLWormwood wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's no technical or legal reason why N++ had to move off SourceForge; they're simply throwing a hissy fit. What's wrong with moving off the server out of principle? While I'm American, I can't fault these guys if they suddenly felt less secure about the hosting of their work by a US company, especially if it's due to political reasons they'd have no recourse over if at some future point they risk being targeted…

Acting on "out of principle" could be a quicker way to deep-six your business adventure. Making political statements with your open source project releases leaves your project, and now political views, completely open to the community. That is what they wanted, and that is what they will get - good or bad.

I'm curious, has siding with open-source ever actually hurt anyone? It's like saying I believe everyone should be able to use my product, and I'm going to work hard to make that possible...

Re: Notepad++ leaves SourceForge

#70

Post by gscott »

blantonl wrote: post #48
DLWormwood wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's no technical or legal reason why N++ had to move off SourceForge; they're simply throwing a hissy fit. What's wrong with moving off the server out of principle? While I'm American, I can't fault these guys if they suddenly felt less secure about the hosting of their work by a US company, especially if it's due to political reasons they'd have no recourse over if at some future point they risk being targeted…

Acting on "out of principle" could be a quicker way to deep-six your business adventure. Making political statements with your open source project releases leaves your project, and now political views, completely open to the community. That is what they wanted, and that is what they will get - good or bad.

It's also possible contributors who have been blocked from other projects would think this is one is blocked as well and just avoid all SourceForge projects.
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