The well-known media player, Winamp, has officially become open-source. Nevertheless, the specifics of its licensing have generated debate within the open-source community.
Several months ago, Llama Group SA, the organization behind Winamp, announced that it would release the source code for Winamp on September 24. This commitment has now been realized.
Winamp’s source code is available on GitHub
The source code made available relates to the classic version of the music player. The licensing documents, which can be found on Winamp’s official GitHub page, are labeled the “Winamp Collaborative License (WCL).” This title raises significant concerns among observers.
Is Winamp genuinely open-source? Not quite
Essentially, it seems that the company is looking for users to review the code, correct bugs on their behalf, and then wait for approval from the maintainers before implementing any changes. This approach suggests that developers’ contributions, including enhancements or new features, can be rejected, effectively restricting the opportunity for true innovation.
In addition to this, the license claims that all intellectual property rights and copyrights related to contributions are transferred to Winamp. This means contributors must forfeit any rights of authorship or contest alterations made to their input, granting Winamp the latitude to use these contributions freely, without compensating the individuals who submitted their code. This compulsory “waiving of rights” is prohibited in several countries, including Belgium, where Llama Group SA is headquartered.
Are you keeping up? Ultimately, this setup translates to voluntary work, with only the official application capable of implementing features or enhancements. Contributors are left with no control over their submissions. The majority of reactions to the announcement on X (formerly Twitter) have been angry, and understandably so.
The situation is further complicated by Section 5. Restrictions (as noted in the accompanying screenshot).
Contributors are restricted from sharing any modified versions of Winamp, even in the form of source code. This privilege is solely reserved for the maintainers, or the company itself. This is an unusual licensing strategy. Other developers would not be able to create or distribute their versions of Winamp. Is this truly open source? It certainly seems otherwise. What was the rationale behind releasing the source code in the first place? If it was intended as a public relations tactic, it has backfired. Interestingly, they inadvertently included the source code for SHOUTcast Server’s software along with Winamp’s code but later withdrew it.
Winamp updated the license to allow forking, but…
Unexpectedly, Winamp’s original license violated GitHub’s Terms of Service, which stipulates: “By setting your repositories to be viewed publicly, you agree to allow others to view and ‘fork’ your repositories (meaning others may create their own copies of content from your repositories in repositories they control).” There is an active debate about this issue on Winamp’s GitHub page.
The company has since revised the licensing details (WCL 1.0.1) to allow forking of the code for private purposes only, indicating that the distribution of any modified versions is still off-limits. As of now, Winamp’s source code has attracted nearly 1,000 forks—somewhat encouraging news in the face of the ongoing debate.
DrO, the founder of WACUP (Winamp Community Update Project), has publicly criticized the licensing limitations on Reddit and posted a statement on WACUP’s Facebook page, declaring he would not use the source code for his version of the music player.
Image Source: Andreas Cahyo @ Shutterstock
