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ReactOS Code Audit

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the defining-reverse-engineer dept.

reub2000 writes to tell us that in response to talk of "tainted" code within ReactOS Steven Edwards, ReactOS and Wine developer, has called for a complete audit of the entire source tree in addition to procedure and policy changes. From the article: "One final note, this audit of the code is going to take a long time. It could take years, but it will happen, this project will come out better than it was before. I don't believe anything anyone has done while working on this project was really wrong. Every decision has three possibilities, being moral, ethical and or legal. Sometimes the law in itself is unethical and immoral. If people made mistakes and there was a violation of the law, I question the justice of the law and or anyone that would try to prosecute any of the developers who just want the freedom to learn and create a more free system."

4 of 217 comments (clear)

  1. For those of us who are unaware... by Shimdaddy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just what happened with ReactOS, and why is some of their code "tainted"?

  2. Re:defensive by PFI_Optix · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sounds to me like they're concerned that there *might* be MS code in there, and are simply being transparent about the process of weeding it out. That way, if MS knocks on the door one day with a lawsuit for copyright infringement, they have public documentation that they initiated a voluntary audit of their code long before MS showed up.

    I'm not a developer, so I'm curious...is it precedented at all for them to involve MS in this audit? Would it make sense for MS to look at the source code and advise them of any transgressions so they can fix it quickly? IIRC, ReactOS is/was open-source, so it's not like Microsoft couldn't have already downloaded the code independently to look for problems. By inviting them into the audit you at least have your ass somewhat covered, especially if they decline and then turn around and sue later.

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    120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
  3. Re:taint by AnXa · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is not subject to make fun of. ReactOS is one of the best "free software" collections that you can have from internet which also run windows programs just like that.

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    -Seeing the problem is ½ of solution-
  4. Who's auditing closed source? by zogger · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What government agency/set of cops is auditing closed source to make sure it doesn't contain open source code in violation of copyright? Are closed source shops lawyers making them maintain a legal position that their coders can never glance at open source code lest they become tainted and it slop over into the code?

    All I see is giant megaprofit closed source corporations get to run on the "wesayso" law, "we say we only have pure code of our own writing", but everyone else in the other camp has to be scared of lawsuits because they glanced at some closed source someplace and are under draconian NDAs or whatnot.

    Kinda like diebold and vote counts. The vote is what we say it is, if you don't believe it, tough noogies.