In an unexpected turn of events, Winamp, the iconic music player software, has removed its entire source code repository from GitHub. This move comes less than a month after the company initially made its "Legacy Player Code" available to the public.
On September 24, Winamp's Belgian owner, Llama Group, released the source code with the intention of allowing developers to contribute to the software's evolution. However, the release was met with criticism and controversy from the open-source community.
The main point of contention was the "Winamp Collaborative License (WCL) Version 1.0.1," which imposed strict limitations on the use and distribution of the code. Under this license, developers were prohibited from distributing modified versions of the software, and only official maintainers were allowed to distribute the software and its modifications.
Justin Frankel, a key developer of the original Winamp and founder of Nullsoft, expressed his disapproval of the license terms, calling them "completely absurd" and "terrible."
Despite the restrictive license, the code was forked over 2,600 times. However, upon examination, developers discovered several issues with the released code:
- Inclusion of code from other projects with different licenses
- Potential leak of SHOUTcast server software source code
- Improper handling of file deletions, leaving sensitive information accessible
- Presence of proprietary packages from Intel and Microsoft in the build tools
These findings suggest that Winamp may have rushed to release the code without fully understanding the implications or properly vetting the contents.
Winamp's recent history has been tumultuous, with a shutdown in 2013, followed by an acquisition by Radionomy in 2014. The company released a major update in 2022, though it was noted that the app still retained many outdated elements.
Llama Group SA, the current owner of Winamp, claims that "tens of millions of users still use Winamp for Windows every month." The company has plans to release two major official versions annually and is developing Winamp for Creators, a platform for artists and labels to manage their music across various platforms.
As of now, Winamp has not responded to requests for comment regarding the source code release or its subsequent deletion.