# Winamp Legacy player source code is now open **URL:** \ **Category:** In The News\ **Tags:** code\ **Created:** [24 September 2024 15:01 UTC](https://forum.devtalk.com/t/winamp-legacy-player-source-code-is-now-open/171499 "2024-09-24T15:01:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CommunityNews](https://forum.devtalk.com/user_avatar/forum.devtalk.com/communitynews/32/1113_2.png) [@CommunityNews](https://forum.devtalk.com/u/CommunityNews)\ **Post date:** [24 September 2024 15:01 UTC](https://forum.devtalk.com/t/winamp-legacy-player-source-code-is-now-open/171499/1 "2024-09-24T15:01:21Z")
> GitHub - WinampDesktop/winamp: Iconic media player. > Iconic media player. Contribute to WinampDesktop/winamp development by creating an account on GitHub. Read in full here: > **[GitHub - WinampDesktop/winamp: Iconic media player](https://github.com/WinampDesktop/winamp)** > > Iconic media player. Contribute to WinampDesktop/winamp development by creating an account on GitHub. _This thread was posted by one of our members via one of our news source trackers._ ---
**Author:** ![jmagnani](https://forum.devtalk.com/user_avatar/forum.devtalk.com/jmagnani/32/6672_2.png) [@jmagnani](https://forum.devtalk.com/u/jmagnani)\ **Post date:** [25 September 2024 06:56 UTC](https://forum.devtalk.com/t/winamp-legacy-player-source-code-is-now-open/171499/2 "2024-09-25T06:56:04Z")
Used this software a lot during my college days ---
**Author:** ![Eiji](https://forum.devtalk.com/user_avatar/forum.devtalk.com/eiji/32/6784_2.png) [@Eiji](https://forum.devtalk.com/u/Eiji)\ **Post date:** [30 September 2024 01:48 UTC](https://forum.devtalk.com/t/winamp-legacy-player-source-code-is-now-open/171499/3 "2024-09-30T01:48:12Z")
Excellent news! Honestly one of best news recently. `Winamp` for many people is a player that was used even in childhood. I remember many players used it’s skins even on old mobile phones (not smartphones). Seeing it open now is just amazing! ❤ **Edit** : Oh, did you saw that repository? It’s completely mess. Their license looks like generated by AI, they violates `GitHub`’s **Terms of Service** and **Open Source Principles** , see: > > > The Winamp Collaborative License (WCL) Version 1.0.1 currently used for this rep…ository violates GitHub's Terms of Service and contradicts fundamental open source principles. Here are the key issues: > > 1. Violation of GitHub ToS: > GitHub's Terms of Service state: "By setting your repositories to be viewed publicly, you agree to allow others to view and fork your repositories." The WCL explicitly prohibits forking and distribution of modified versions, which directly conflicts with this requirement. > > 2. Not Open Source: > The license fails to meet the Open Source Definition as outlined by the Open Source Initiative. Specifically: > > \- It restricts redistribution (Section 5) > \- It does not allow modifications to be distributed (Section 5) > \- It requires all contributions to assign rights to Winamp (Section 4) > > 3. Restrictive Contribution Terms: > The license requires contributors to waive their rights and assign all intellectual property to Winamp without compensation (Section 4). This is highly unusual and potentially unenforceable in many jurisdictions. > > 4. No Forking Allowed: > Section 5 prohibits the distribution of modified versions, which is a fundamental right in open source software. This severely limits collaboration and community involvement. > > 5. Trademark Restrictions: > While protecting trademarks is understandable, the license's approach is overly restrictive and incompatible with open source practices. > > Recommendations: > 1. Adopt a standard open source license (e.g., GPL, MIT, Apache) that complies with GitHub ToS and open source principles. > 2. If trademark protection is a concern, implement it separately from the software license. > 3. Remove the rights assignment clause for contributions or make it optional. > 4. Allow forking and distribution of modified versions, with clear guidelines on branding/trademark usage. > > This license, as it stands, is neither open source nor compliant with GitHub's policies. It should be revised to align with established open source practices and GitHub's requirements. Also the issues created by trolls. I have no idea what would be the future of it. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![jss](https://forum.devtalk.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/cdc98d/32.png) [@jss](https://forum.devtalk.com/u/jss)\ **Post date:** [1 October 2024 01:36 UTC](https://forum.devtalk.com/t/winamp-legacy-player-source-code-is-now-open/171499/4 "2024-10-01T01:36:08Z")
I saw on twitter people complaining that you are not even allowed fork the repo. Is this still true? ---
**Author:** ![Eiji](https://forum.devtalk.com/user_avatar/forum.devtalk.com/eiji/32/6784_2.png) [@Eiji](https://forum.devtalk.com/u/Eiji)\ **Post date:** [1 October 2024 04:27 UTC](https://forum.devtalk.com/t/winamp-legacy-player-source-code-is-now-open/171499/5 "2024-10-01T04:27:05Z")
It was true, but this part was removed. It’s still far away from good - for some reason they try to force their own license even if they can’t write it on their own. They need to have extreme costs cuts as they were or still are using ChatGPT for some or all of the work. It’s fail of the year, but let’s give them some time and we would see in what direction it goes … > > > Removing the forking language which was not clear ---
**Author:** ![jss](https://forum.devtalk.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/cdc98d/32.png) [@jss](https://forum.devtalk.com/u/jss)\ **Post date:** [6 October 2024 21:07 UTC](https://forum.devtalk.com/t/winamp-legacy-player-source-code-is-now-open/171499/6 "2024-10-06T21:07:29Z")
I agree. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Eiji](https://forum.devtalk.com/user_avatar/forum.devtalk.com/eiji/32/6784_2.png) [@Eiji](https://forum.devtalk.com/u/Eiji)\ **Post date:** [7 October 2024 02:02 UTC](https://forum.devtalk.com/t/winamp-legacy-player-source-code-is-now-open/171499/7 "2024-10-07T02:02:04Z")
In this video it’s described what exactly gone wrong: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/NgZPa78InWw/maxresdefault.jpg "The Winamp Situation Is Crazy") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgZPa78InWw) ---
**Author:** ![KnowledgeIsPower](https://forum.devtalk.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/c6cbf5/32.png) [@KnowledgeIsPower](https://forum.devtalk.com/u/KnowledgeIsPower)\ **Post date:** [7 October 2024 14:20 UTC](https://forum.devtalk.com/t/winamp-legacy-player-source-code-is-now-open/171499/8 "2024-10-07T14:20:05Z")
In the issues section > **[Issues · WinampDesktop/winamp](https://github.com/WinampDesktop/winamp/issues)** > > Iconic media player. Contribute to WinampDesktop/winamp development by creating an account on GitHub. There are all sorts of comments (some comments are not the type that we usually anticipated for GitHub style) ---
**Author:** ![jss](https://forum.devtalk.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/cdc98d/32.png) [@jss](https://forum.devtalk.com/u/jss)\ **Post date:** [24 October 2024 17:27 UTC](https://forum.devtalk.com/t/winamp-legacy-player-source-code-is-now-open/171499/9 "2024-10-24T17:27:28Z")
Nice. Thanks for this. ---
**Author:** ![Eiji](https://forum.devtalk.com/user_avatar/forum.devtalk.com/eiji/32/6784_2.png) [@Eiji](https://forum.devtalk.com/u/Eiji)\ **Post date:** [24 October 2024 19:27 UTC](https://forum.devtalk.com/t/winamp-legacy-player-source-code-is-now-open/171499/10 "2024-10-24T19:27:07Z")
Oh, today I tried to take a look what have changed and it changed a lot … In fact everything have changed as … they have removed the entire repository. For sure after all those leaks of 3rd-party proprietary code they would have a lot of trouble as simply removing the repository would not make much differences. People made lots of forks, many people definitely clone the repository and would do so for forks especially after they have removed original repository. 🤦‍♂️ I wonder if using `Winamp`’s code now (without 3rd-party code of course) could be considered illegal. In theory one would say that their license was very restrictive, but someone else would point out that “it was intended” to be `copyleft` as they explicitly stated it. Even if we assume the worst case … is it fair that other people are supposed to follow restrictive license while they made so much mess with 3rd-part licensed code and GitHub’s `ToS` rules? 🤔 In my **opinion** as long as people would not use 3rd-party proprietary code it should be fine since: 1. They have no rights to share 3rd-party proprietary code, so stealing it is not like “stealing” from `Winamp`, but from their owners (which is not exactly same because of 2nd point below) 🥷 2. Cloning, modifying and redistribution of `Winamp`’s source code should be completely legal as the owners of it have shared it on `GitHub`. By using it they need to follow the rules which makes all copies of their code fully legal as they have no right to not allow it when since their first commit 🙈 However there are still some questions: 1. How to license copies that we think are legal ❓ 2. Are we allowed to redistribute copies in `binary` form (which is restricted by the `Winamp`’s license) © Again it’s just my opinion, but since the license itself was generated by `AI` and violates ToS then there should be closest license to the parts that are considered as legal i.e. since the license mentions that’s `copyleft` people should use `GPL`, `AGPL` and `LGPL`. 👍 Now the second question … I did not heard about source-only copyleft (if there is I’m wrong), so most probably distribution even in `binary` form should be fine. If not it’s still not a big issue. If community decides to rewrite it to use for example `Qt` then it would be easily installed in at least `Gentoo` and `Arch` based distributions. In general building projects on `Debian`-based distributions is well documented as well, so there should not be any problem for people interested in it. 🏗 Of course at the end it’s worth to mention that there are much more, better and modern alternatives for `Winamp`. Some of them allows to use it’s skins and even plugins, so people interested in this topic does not have to worry even if all copies of `Winamp` would be permanently removed. 🚀