Re:Ask HN: Right to Repair for Software?
by account42 on Friday January 27, 2023 @06:27AM
(#34544897)
> Even fully open sources software can't be "repaired" when its dependencies break. There are a wide range of programs that broke when Python 2 went away.
Can't? Like physical objects can't be repared when the parts are no longer sold?
There is always a way to repair, just a matter of how difficult it is. Having the sourcee to the application itself is the first difficulty barrier. Source to dependencies would also be helpful, yes.
Btw, Python 2 did not go away unless you mean it went away from the default package archives of some Linux distributions - but even there it's not (yet) gone for all of them. The Python 2 sources are still the same as they have always been and while you might need older versions of a few more dependencies, if your really need to have Python 2 you can get it.
Can't? Like physical objects can't be repared when the parts are no longer sold?
There is always a way to repair, just a matter of how difficult it is. Having the sourcee to the application itself is the first difficulty barrier. Source to dependencies would also be helpful, yes.
Btw, Python 2 did not go away unless you mean it went away from the default package archives of some Linux distributions - but even there it's not (yet) gone for all of them. The Python 2 sources are still the same as they have always been and while you might need older versions of a few more dependencies, if your really need to have Python 2 you can get it.