[dn3500]

In 1981 I wrote a tool that is still in use today. You can install the package on most major linux distros. This was before we paid much attention to software copyright, and I simply published it with my name on it and no license.

About six months later someone took my code, removed my name from it, made some small changes that didn't change its behavior at all, and re-published it. By that time I had moved on and wasn't aware that it had started to take off.

The man page now has someone else's name on it as author. I don't really regret publishing it but I wish I had put a copyright notice and license on it.

[Sloowms]

It's probably hard to prove with something from 1981 but no license or copyright doesn't mean the source is open for taking. It basically means you just haven't set a license and could do that at any time, rugpulling the code from anyone who uses it. This is why projects like Fedora and Debian make sure everything they ship has a license.

[me-vs-cat]

> ...with something from 1981 but no license or copyright doesn't mean the source is open for taking.

Are you sure? That's before the US joined the Berne Convention, and also not long after the Computer Software Copyright Act of 1980.

[lhmiles]

Tell us the tool!

[pabs3]

Which tool is that?