Post AcEC2Or5XcUkcryBuK by megamatt@mastodon.online
(DIR) More posts by megamatt@mastodon.online
(DIR) Post #AcD1r5uqQLH808jluS by mjg59@nondeterministic.computer
2023-11-26T20:12:57Z
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"Decompiling code gives you access to un-copyrightable elements" yes but it also gives you access to copyrightable elements and if you just stick the whole thing on github what do you think the overall copyright situation of the work is(This is not an argument for not sticking it on github, it's an argument against asserting that copyright law says this is fine)
(DIR) Post #AcD2OimmvWhY6w0HK4 by flameeyes@mastodon.social
2023-11-26T20:18:51Z
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@mjg59 and there I went and spent a good amount of time making my repositories as rock solid from possible infringement as I could… 🙄https://flameeyes.blog/2023/08/27/and-finally-freestyle-libre-2-support/?mtm_campaign=social&mtm_kwd=mastodon
(DIR) Post #AcD2rMxr8ap4pYqC92 by mikebabcock@floss.social
2023-11-26T20:23:21Z
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@mjg59 Is reverse engineered code ever subject to Copyright or just trade secrets and patents? After all, its no longer the original material (unless we're talking about extracting art assets, I'm talking about just code).
(DIR) Post #AcD3gZGNAfZNk7unfU by mjg59@nondeterministic.computer
2023-11-26T20:33:37Z
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@mikebabcock binaries are copyrightable despite not being the original work. Mechanically transforming a work doesn't alter the copyright state.
(DIR) Post #AcD4lDpgNOyagCDLN2 by mikebabcock@floss.social
2023-11-26T20:45:14Z
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@mjg59 despite the idiocy of binary code being Copyrightable at all, I'm not convinced unless you have a citation that the Copyright is being transferred from the source to the binary, but applied to the binary as a new creation at the time of build.That said, see also: http://freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/what_if_copyright_didnt_apply_binary_executables/
(DIR) Post #AcD6XARcNPGk1eNsnY by mjg59@nondeterministic.computer
2023-11-26T21:05:32Z
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@mikebabcock https://www.law.cornell.edu/definitions/uscode.php?width=840&height=800&iframe=true&def_id=17-USC-54980223-364936160&term_occur=999&term_src=title:17:chapter:1:section:101
(DIR) Post #AcD6mANAvQIy9BSSzQ by mjg59@nondeterministic.computer
2023-11-26T21:08:26Z
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@mikebabcock But take it further. A binary with debug material included can be decompiled to something almost identical to the original source code (albeit missing comments). The comments aren't what makes code copyrightable, so you'd end up having to argue that only the debug info contains expressive material, and I don't think that's something that feels obvious to many people
(DIR) Post #AcD7eOj3mFS6IdYPrc by argv_minus_one@mstdn.party
2023-11-26T21:18:08Z
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@mjg59 @mikebabcock > A binary with debug material included can be decompiled to something almost identical to the original source codeOnly if optimization is turned off. It is possible to compile with both optimization and debug info turned on. If so, then the optimizer will eliminate code like usual, and the debug info will only describe what's left.Trying to debug such a binary can be interesting. A single step-over can unexpectedly skip dozens of lines of code that were optimized out.
(DIR) Post #AcEC2Or5XcUkcryBuK by megamatt@mastodon.online
2023-11-27T09:41:37Z
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@mjg59 exactly! To illustrate: that’s why the team that did the Ocarina of Time decompilation requires you to have the originals’ ROM. Their script only assist in decompilation, it doesn’t offer the decompiled source code.