I just saw a video the other day about storing video games in QR codes where the poster submitted a patch for ZBar. Was that you?
https://github.com/mchehab/zbar/commit/5bc323849569a629aa0d1...
If so, then the patch he submitted builds upon my work! He fixed a line feed conversion bug that was present in Windows. I use Linux so I did not experience this issue.
I remember seeing that patch get merged but I didn't know about the whole video game context. This is amazing. I wrote the patch because I was trying to print a 4096 bit RSA secret key as a QR code. Awesome to see it getting used for something even more awesome.
Here are the links to my contributions and related pages:
https://github.com/mchehab/zbar/pull/64
https://github.com/mchehab/zbar/issues/55
https://github.com/mchehab/zbar/issues/82
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=703234
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=710009
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Paperkey#Restore_the_se...
https://stackoverflow.com/a/60518608/512904
ZBar used to automatically convert binary data to text when decoding 8 bit QR codes, mangling the data in the process. My patch adds the option to disable that, enabling the data to be extracted without corruption.
I also added the one shot feature to the ZBar tools to make it easier to use in automated scripts that expect exactly one output:
https://github.com/mchehab/zbar/pull/60
Looks like we have a real world application for tiny ELFs now!
https://www.muppetlabs.com/~breadbox/software/tiny/teensy.ht...
Storing secret keys as QR codes is an interesting application as well. I remember reading on here about a CEO who printed out a database encryption key as a base64 string and then couldn't type it in correctly when it was needed to restore backups. A machine-readable format definitely seems the way to go.
I've been programming since I was about 13 years old. I am no longer a professional software developer though. I've released some works on my GitHub. My most recent contributions to free software: binary QR decoding for ZBar and a small program for configuring my laptop's backlit keyboard. I also reported a GPG bug and sent in a fix some time ago.
> How do you feel about people breaking the GPL?
It's pointless. People can use your software despite any terms and your only recourse is legal action. Seriously doubt individual developers will waste their time and money pursuing violators in court. Even the organizations dedicated to GPL violations won't take all cases. Violators in foreign countries might as well be untouchable, especially developing countries which have better things to do than police the use of imaginary property. The GPL is most useful to projects like the Linux kernel which have massive amounts of leverage over the companies that want to violate the license.
Like copyright, I don't think licenses in general should exist. The GPL was itself created in reaction to copyright protection being extended towards software. It depends on copyright in order to work.
The real value of the GPL is the hacker spirit it represents. I give you the source code and you send back any improvements you make. This core virtue is widely shared and respected by the developer community.