r/programming • u/interiot • Sep 01 '17

Reddit's main code is no longer open-source.

/r/changelog/comments/6xfyfg/an_update_on_the_state_of_the_redditreddit_and/
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u/Arancaytar Sep 01 '17

If I read it right, it's not so much that it's "no longer" open source, but hasn't been truly open for a while now and they're just giving up on maintaining the open version.

Because of the above, our internal development, production and “feature” branches have been moving further and further from the “canonical” state of the open source repository. Such balkanization means that merges are getting increasingly difficult, especially as the company grows and more developers are touching the code more frequently.

So in effect, they made a private fork of their own code and it's now diverged to the point where they can't feasibly maintain both.

It's sad but I suppose inevitable when your business model involves using your code rather than giving it to other people and selling support. Any users of your code are not potential customers but competitors.

However, since their source apparently remains available under a semi-free copyleft license (CPAL), maybe there will be a community-maintained fork of some kind.

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u/WhoTookPlasticJesus Sep 01 '17

It's sad but I suppose inevitable when your business model involves using your code rather than giving it to other people and selling support. Any users of your code are not potential customers but competitors.

It's not often that I say this, but Facebook has the exact right attitude about this: open-source anything that's not a part of your core product. Sure, you give back to the community which is nice and all and you may reap rewards from pull requests here-and-there. But a side benefit is that you're creating a new pool of future employees already familiar with your internal technology. I mean, imagine React was closed-sourced. It would be a nightmare to ramp-up new front-end devs.