Re: GPLed software with no true source. Was: Bug#402650: ITP: mozilla-foxyproxy
> > So, if I read your comments correctly, the .js files aren't
> > intentionally obfuscated. Whitespace has just been removed in order to
> > speed up download. It may be misguided, but it's also pretty common
> > among JavaScript programmers.
> Except the javascript file is zipped in a .xpi file, making the space
> removing argument moot.
That is exactly what I thought and stated in our discussion with the
author on the support forum. .xpi is compressed, then chrome file is
shipped within .jar which is also zip compressed. I don't think that
spaces is of any concern for the size. They might contribute to few %s
of the size.
Also VC available from mozilla.org [1] got only space-stripped versions of
the code -- no originals as well...
> > I was able to run the JavaScript code through GNU indent
> > (http://www.gnu.org/software/indent/ ) and get readable and
> > modifiable
I've done that (with astyle) but it still was really hard to
comprehend the source.
> > I don't think that this is a case where the user gets unmodifiable
> > source.
> However, the GPL requires the prefered form for modification to be
> provided. And what the author uses to modify is definitely not the
> whitespace-free version.
seconded.
For now I just tagged ITP bug with wontfix and provided a description
why not...
[1] http://www.mozdev.org/source/browse/foxyproxy/
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