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Open source ‘protestware’ harms Open Source

opensource.org

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Re: Open source ‘protestware’ harms Open Source

#91

Post by ekianjo »

matsemann wrote: post #74
ekianjo wrote: post #47

> Instead of malware, a better approach to free expression would be to use messages in commit logs to send anti-propaganda messages and to issue trackers to share accurate news inside Russia of what is really happening in Ukraine at the hands of the Russian military, to cite two obvious possibilities How about not taking sides instead of acting like a kid believing one side is black and the other white with absolutel…

Not taking a side is agreeing with the oppressor.

No, not taking sides is just not taking sides. There's no need to turn such a position into a shortcut to something else. It's as stupid as the kids saying "if you are not with us you are against us". Typical populist bullshit.

Re: Open source ‘protestware’ harms Open Source

#92

Post by moonchrome »

And this is why I hate the JS ecosystem. Everything is monkey patched by a bunch of randoms who published a package that scratched their itch and you have 0 assurances of their intent or stewardship. If you want to vet dependencies- good luck - the standard library is so shit that pulling one dependency might bring in a 100+ packages with it. Even the "big corporate sponsored" libraries depend on random crapware - like the leftpad incident clearly demonstrated.

Returning to .NET Core recently I'm very fond of the ecosystem in this regard - everything is open source - but so many things are provided by Microsoft you rarely have to venture out, even stuff that's not under their repo/umbrella has people paid by Microsoft working on it (eg. npgsql).

Re: Open source ‘protestware’ harms Open Source

#93

Post by slackfan »

matsemann wrote: post #74
ekianjo wrote: post #47

> Instead of malware, a better approach to free expression would be to use messages in commit logs to send anti-propaganda messages and to issue trackers to share accurate news inside Russia of what is really happening in Ukraine at the hands of the Russian military, to cite two obvious possibilities How about not taking sides instead of acting like a kid believing one side is black and the other white with absolutel…

Not taking a side is agreeing with the oppressor.

No post body was provided.

Re: Open source ‘protestware’ harms Open Source

#94

Post by sirius87 »

Latty wrote: post #34

Do people think the people protesting like this don't know that this is damaging? They presumably feel that the issue at hand is more important than that damage. Every protest every has been met with "but this protest is being done the wrong way, don't inconvenience me", but that's the point: protest has to disrupt things to make people take notice and make changes. Would I do this? No. I don't think it's effective o…

This is exactly it.

For some people, a world that they relate to is coming to an end, and anything they could do, however insignificant, no matter what the side-effects or personal reputation cost, is worth doing. This isn't some brainy impact-analysis based action. "Something must be done".

The disruptions caused by these rogue packages will make it to newspapers and the media, and maybe, just maybe, parrying the news of war and destruction.

I don't support having this. But I can see how a single-contributor package author would feel emotionally compelled to "Do something, anything".

Re: Open source ‘protestware’ harms Open Source

#96

Post by jcadam »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #45
whatever1 wrote: post #19

Whatever it takes to bring that dictator down.

This may actually be counterproductive to that end, as it disrupts the ability of the Russian grass roots to develop their own software. That capacity is fairly important to provide the technical ability to avoid state surveillance and to communicate without ending up in the cell next to Navalny.

Or it results in a balkanization of the FOSS community. Also bad.

Re: Open source ‘protestware’ harms Open Source

#97

Post by slackfan »

ekianjo wrote: post #91
matsemann wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not taking a side is agreeing with the oppressor.

No, not taking sides is just not taking sides. There's no need to turn such a position into a shortcut to something else. It's as stupid as the kids saying "if you are not with us you are against us". Typical populist bullshit.

No post body was provided.

Re: Open source ‘protestware’ harms Open Source

#98

Post by ekianjo »

GranularRecipe wrote: post #86
ekianjo wrote: post #47

> Instead of malware, a better approach to free expression would be to use messages in commit logs to send anti-propaganda messages and to issue trackers to share accurate news inside Russia of what is really happening in Ukraine at the hands of the Russian military, to cite two obvious possibilities How about not taking sides instead of acting like a kid believing one side is black and the other white with absolutel…

Open source is driven by many opioniated and idealistic people who also worry about the current geopolitical development. They might make their opinions known in a non-destructive manner. You might not like it, fair enough, but expressing one's opinion in commit messages is neither childish nor an instrumentalisation by any government.

> expressing one's opinion in commit messages is neither childish nor an instrumentalisation by any government.

It's childish because it's incredibly naive to think that commit messages are going to change anyone's mind. Instead they will look like someone preaching for no reason. Next, how about doing an online petition as well? /s

Re: Open source ‘protestware’ harms Open Source

#99

Post by matsemann »

ekianjo wrote: post #91
matsemann wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not taking a side is agreeing with the oppressor.

No, not taking sides is just not taking sides. There's no need to turn such a position into a shortcut to something else. It's as stupid as the kids saying "if you are not with us you are against us". Typical populist bullshit.

How hard is it to just say "I think Russia is wrong for invading Ukraine and killing people"? That's all you have to do. Just write it.

If you can't do that, but still want to engage in the discussion on the topic, your standpoint is clear. You're not some holier person not taking a stand. You have taken one, you just don't dare to spell it out.

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