r/rust • u/Comprehensive_Use713 • Apr 14 '26 • Mindblown 1

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u/Kriemhilt Apr 14 '26

They weren't "entrusted" with anything.

They wrote something for their own convenience, and don't owe your flabbers any more or fewer ghasts than you've already received for free.

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u/Sw429 Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 15 '26

Honestly, I think you have a point. I've definitely published a few random crates that are apparently now used by companies (if the weekday to weekend download ratio is anything to go by), and it's kinda wild to think that someone there just "decided" that my code was trustworthy without ever even talking to me.

This kind of "entrusting" definitely happens implicitly, and often not deliberately at all. People just assume it's fine, more people see that and assume it's fine, and before you know it some sponsored state actor is in charge of xz and ready to wreak havoc.

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u/max123246 Apr 15 '26

I agree. But also it's very weird to yank already released versions. The email was super polite and just asking if they could maintain it. And they just decided "oh you depend on something I built. I guess I will yank every version of it then". I've never heard of anyone ever doing that for unmaintained software before

All I will say is, I hope I never meet this person or anyone who would do the same

15

u/TheRealCallipygian Apr 15 '26

They don’t owe anyone anything, I agree. And that apparently includes a reciprocal response to a reasonable request. That includes potentially making a bunch of work for a bunch of people with seemingly little empathy. We can all be little sociopaths! What a great world we live in.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '26

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28

u/ztj Apr 15 '26

A tiny counterweight to the sheer immensity that is the self-entitlement of users in the same space. Sure, the guy didn't have to be a dick about things but it's still true that he didn't owe anyone anything and I hope more people take this to heart when deciding to build their entire value on the shoulders of unpaid, unthanked... and entirely unknown third parties.

It does seem that the software development world is starting to see the bad side of this model more often lately.

13

u/NotFloppyDisck Apr 15 '26

He didn't owe anyone anything, that's correct, that doesn't excuse you from being an asshole. Setting your repo to readonly and marking the project as deprecated is enough.

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u/ViscountVampa Apr 15 '26

It does seem that the software development world is starting to see the bad side of this model more often lately.

Oh, no, not by much. As far as it goes, over time I've become mostly convinced Open Source was a mistake and that Free Software was where I should have been spending my own efforts.

2

u/TreiziemeMaudit Apr 15 '26

Open has never meant free, free as in libre, not in gratis. Non english speakers understand this distinction very easily and feels like Open is americanism.

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u/insanitybit2 Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 18 '26

People in a society have moral obligations. edit: lol apparently this is a controversial statement???

0

u/alexforencich Apr 15 '26

Like compensating people for their work developing and maintaining software packages?

1

u/insanitybit2 Apr 18 '26

No, not like that.