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by kjaleshire 3280 days ago
Exactly. A few years ago the ReactOS developers had to stop all development for several months to perform a source code audit. This was meant to deflect accusations that they had derived code from disassembled Windows binaries.

If anything, this could make their legal situation more sticky.
2 comments
wfunction 3280 days ago
> A few years ago the ReactOS developers had to stop all development for several months to perform a source code audit.

What kind of an audit can you do without access to the original software's source code? How would you tell if it's actually different?

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pmontra 3280 days ago
This is what they did https://www.reactos.org/wiki/Audit
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wfunction 3280 days ago
That's pretty cool, thanks!
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ClassyJacket 3280 days ago
That's unfortunate and doesn't fit my understanding of the situation - is disassembling a binary not fair game, in the same way that Samsung buying an iPhone and cracking it open is? (Assuming we're worried about copyright and not patents).
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krylon 3279 days ago
IANAL, but as far as I understand the situation it is not. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_wall#Reverse_engineeri...

But IIUC, clean room reverse engineering requires substantial effort to prove you did not take any shortcuts.

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