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Comment by fsflover | Hacker News Reader

> Since its taxpayers money, any custom made software for gov MUST be FOSS or we can equally abandon any logic whatsoever

This is why Free Software Foundation Europe created a petition to make all publicly paid code public: https://publiccode.eu.

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Bulgaria seems to have it:

https://thepolicy.us/bulgaria-got-a-law-requiring-open-sourc...

When's the last time Bulgaria developed spy satellite or fighter jet software?

Whataboutism. There's a lot of non-militaristic software that could be FOSS.

That's a fair argument but it's definitely not "whataboutism" by any definition.

I mean, it's 'whaboutism' by some definitions, it's just that those definitions aren't the ones that the rest of the world uses. :~)

The spy satellite or fighter jet software doesn't have to be on Github, but it also doesn't have to be locked up in the vaults @ Boeing or Northrup Grumman, and only accessed or improved at a huge fee by a rent-seeking corporation, who will discharge developers who are experts, and for another obnoxious fee only offer to retrain them, if they happen to still have access to the source code that might have been lost in that fire years ago.

What about the code used in, for example, defence systems or intelligence agencies?

Every law has exceptions. (Although I'm not sure how much the secrecy helps here, see Snowden's leaks.)

How does this apply to militaries and intelligence agencies? I can understand wanting a lot of government software to be FOSS, but maybe the software on spy satellites shouldn't be available to everyone.

> maybe the software on spy satellites shouldn't be available to everyone.

I would agree if I felt it made security stronger. I don't feel that way, given I know now that satellite is likely running windows.

OSS serving as a basis, not the end-implementation of a system is how it would work in practice. Just like it does now with contracted vendors.

I'd be surprised if satellites are running Windows. I'd guess VxWorks.

The development machines used to create satellite software are likely running Windows, but the satellites are more likely to be running a real time OS such as VxWorks, Rodos, RTEMS, etc.

Linux will soon be a real-time OS, the RT patchset is going to be fully merged in the next one or two releases.

https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/830660/43f429fb1159435a/

It isn't just about security, it is about information gathering. If you give someone all the software used on and to communicate with your spy satellites, it reveals the capabilities of those satellites.

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