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SourceForge and GIMP [Updated]
New submitter tresf writes: In response to a Google+ post from the Gimp project claiming that "[Sourceforge] is now distributing an ads-enabled installer of GIMP," Sourceforge had this response: "In cases where a project is no longer actively being maintained, SourceForge has in some cases established a mirror of releases that are hosted elsewhere. This was done for GIMP-Win.
Submitter's note: Gimp is actively being maintained and the definition of "mirror" is quite misleading here as a modified binary is no longer a verbatim copy. Download statistics for Gimp on Windows show SourceForge as offering over 1,000 downloads per day of the Gimp software.
In an official response to this incident, the official Gimp project team reminds users to use official download methods. Slashdotters may remember the last time news like this surfaced (2013) when the Gimp team decided to move downloads from SourceForge to their own FTP service. "Therefore, we remind you again that GIMP only provides builds for Windows via its official Downloads page." Note: SourceForge and Slashdot share a corporate parent. Editor's note: I just got back from a busy weekend to see that a bunch of people are freaking out that we're "burying" this story, so here it is. Go hog wild. Sorry it took so long. (And for future reference, user submissions are easily found in the firehose, listed in the order they appear, newest first.)
Update: 06/01 22:37 GMT by T : The SourceForge blog has a welcome update; SourceForge, it says, has effective today "stopped presenting third party offers for unmaintained SourceForge projects. ... At this time, we present third party offers only with a few projects where it is explicitly approved by the project developer, or if the project is already bundling third party offers."
Submitter's note: Gimp is actively being maintained and the definition of "mirror" is quite misleading here as a modified binary is no longer a verbatim copy. Download statistics for Gimp on Windows show SourceForge as offering over 1,000 downloads per day of the Gimp software.
In an official response to this incident, the official Gimp project team reminds users to use official download methods. Slashdotters may remember the last time news like this surfaced (2013) when the Gimp team decided to move downloads from SourceForge to their own FTP service. "Therefore, we remind you again that GIMP only provides builds for Windows via its official Downloads page." Note: SourceForge and Slashdot share a corporate parent. Editor's note: I just got back from a busy weekend to see that a bunch of people are freaking out that we're "burying" this story, so here it is. Go hog wild. Sorry it took so long. (And for future reference, user submissions are easily found in the firehose, listed in the order they appear, newest first.)
Update: 06/01 22:37 GMT by T : The SourceForge blog has a welcome update; SourceForge, it says, has effective today "stopped presenting third party offers for unmaintained SourceForge projects. ... At this time, we present third party offers only with a few projects where it is explicitly approved by the project developer, or if the project is already bundling third party offers."
I remember seeing a submission on this early last week.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
Glad to see DICE holding strong on their scumware downloaders.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
This is news because Sourceforge used to be trustworthy.
It used to be a respected site where open-source developers could host their binaries without fear of someone tampering with it.
There's been no pressure influencing my treatment of this topic.
The main reason it's late is that we were asking some questions internally so we could put up a more informative post on the subject. Unfortunately, communications were slow. Rather than keep waiting, I just put up the most accurate submission we've gotten. (May or may not still happen later.)
RIP SourceForge. You died dishonourably.
Not only do they bundle it with adware, but they've apparently sabotaged GIMP too - for example, they apparently changed the save dialog so that you can only save XCF files and have to click through a "you have unsaved changes" warning when you export to a different format. They added an very difficult to precisely adjust sliders to things like brush size. They took out 16 bit color support. Basically, sourceforge has really totalled GIMP. ;)
"Who the **** put an emergency exit in the interrogation room?!" -- Police chief, "Jesus Christ Supercop"
For those who still use Windows and want GIMP (and a LOT of other opensource and freeware Windows programs) you can't beat Ninite.. https://ninite.com/ Ninite does all of the work to make sure you only get the desired opensource program and NONE of the crapware/malware garbage that so many installers are adding on today.. (Yes, I'm looking at YOU, Oracle... You and your fuckin' Ask toolbar on Java installs)... Thankfully I've switched completely to Linux and don't have to worry about that crap...
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
Have you been to Arstechnica, Phoronix, and The Register? Browse their headlines and you'll see a 12-24 hour preview of what's going to show up on /.
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I acknowledge that this was a fuck up. As I said in my note on the story, I'm sorry it took so long for this post to go up.
If anyone is bored and looking for a place to lure my 30s year old self. Redo slashdot, allow markdown, bbedit, html, LaTeX.. editing.
If this is where your interests are, Soylent has forked an re-opened Slash, so people can contribute to it. There's been tremendous cleanup/ and some refactoring, to make Slash a more sane/maintainable project.
They're very picky on submissions, though, so the variety and community aspects aren't what Slashdot is.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
2) I call bullshit on SourceForge's assertion that their adware only comes with projects that aren't actively maintained. There have been a lot of complaints about FileZilla downloads (see, for example, https://forum.filezilla-projec...), and it is definitely a very active project.
I think you dropped this: .org
soylentnews.org
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
It never posted to the front page, but several people made postings about this to the Firehose and when it was seemingly ignored for several days after many up-votes, /. users started hijacking threads (in many cases thwarting the "first post" trolls) as their method of recourse to bring attention to the general user-base that there was an FOSS story of relative importance that was not being put on the front page. This didn't look too good on the eds since it was a negative piece about SourceForge which led to the hijackers making claims of conspiracy and censorship on the part of /. and Dice. I have to admit, Soulskill may have been on vacation, but someone was running the wheels of /. since Wednesday and making a popular post in the Firehose disappear...multiple times.
Your statement clearly conflicts with screencaps many have of the firehose, where almost EVERY SINGLE STORY regarding this was removed despite comments and being RED status.
Would you care to try again, SoulSkill? You seem to forget how easily the internet can keep track of what you do and when.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
For the record, the FileZilla developers actually opted-in to this, several years ago, in some kind of revenue-sharing program with Sourceforge.
What is new is that SF now does it with "abandoned" projects without the owners' consent too.
http://danluu.com/slashdot-sou...
SF claims the project was abandoned in 2013.
To quote another user from Ars:
"the files page has the folder GIMP + GTK+ (stable release) with a last modified time of 2014-11-18. In that, GIMP 2.8.14 is the latest with the 2014-11-18 modification date. The previous file, GIMP 2.8.10 has a modification date of 2014-05-29. (This is just shy of 6 months.) The one before that, GIMP 2.8.8 is also last modified 2014-05-29, and the one before that is GIMP 2.8.6 last modified on 2013-06-24. (This one is just shy of 11 months back.)
So the project was abandoned, but a year later, it's still updating files. And it had three releases in the year after it was supposedly abandoned. The last release was just a few days over 6 months ago, and the project has a history of up to 11 months between releases. How does that qualify as "abandoned"?
No, this is a bullshit excuse Sourceforge was hoping no one would delve into the details to call their bullshit on. There is no other way to put it than they flat-out lied about the abandonment."
Oh, and to boot - According to the gimp-win developer, they locked him out of his account.
That's right, SourceForge STOLE THE ACCOUNT using an account called SF-editor1 in order to wrap one of the most popular FOSS projects with a malware installer.
So here's what we do, guys. I've got a really good attorney. Same one that helped me kick EA's ass back in the Spore lawsuit days.
We band together, we find every person that has had this malware pushed on them, and we sue the ever-living shit out of SourceForge in a class-action suit where accepting a settlement is NOT AN OPTION. Knowingly distributing malware, using misleading language to get the malware to install, and the damage the malware does to the user's computer are all entirely actionable in court and we need to band together to put a legal end to this crap once and for all. We now have the evidence in the testimony of the former account holder, we have copies of the malware, we have copies of the installer, we have screencapped evidence of the lies SourceForge has posted. SourceForge is DEAD IN COURT.
Look up Mark Punzalan Law. Let him know Alex from the Spore/EA case sent you.
If you want, I can come forth as class representative again. I will be more than happy to be the headman ripping these people apart in court.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
They still let you turn off all ads if you have sufficient karma.
"Old man yells at systemd"
I see several that I voted up totally removed (the tell-tale 'imprinting' of the bar when you vote being the giveaway.)
Every story I see back through Wednesday is one I hadn't voted on.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.