# 2026-06-01 - On Avoiding Open Slopware
       
       In my writing, i generally try to focus on what i positively want,
       rather than on what i negatively avoid.  Philosophically, any
       positive or negative motivation can be flipped around and re-framed
       in another way.  But that would be playing a game.  What i want is
       sincerity and truth.
       
       I've been paying close attention to the concept of Open Slopware.
       This is software under a free license that was not authored by a
       human being.  It's easy to find objections to Open Slopware [1] [2]
       [3] [7] [8]. The Vim Classic fork offers a clear rationale.  Vim was
       originally inspired to be a force for good in the world.  Boiling
       away the oceans isn't good. [4]
       
       I have become persuaded to avoid Open Slopware for personal reasons.
       My main objections are less about morality and more about freedom.
       I like the sensation that i can decide which software is allowed to
       run on my own system.  I also like to imagine that if someone really
       wants to, they can read and understand the source code for the
       software that they are running.
       
       I already have a list of reasons to avoid various software projects.
       For example, i already avoid machine generated code, such as WASM
       code where you get illegible "Javascript" but not the original
       sources.  I also avoid obfuscated and proprietary code for similar
       reasons.  Avoiding Open Slopware is simply adding another category
       to the list of "unreadable" and "untrustworthy" code to avoid.
       
       The Open Slopware list [5] is a truly massive wall of text and it's
       growing fast.  I've moved away from many programs that i genuinely
       liked and have been using for years, such as tmux, vim, and vlc.
       
       Today i learned that the qemu project is revising its policy to start
       accepting AI/LLM-generated code [6].  For the first time i feel
       "backed into a corner."  Qemu is the only cross-platform, fully free
       hypervisor that i am aware of.  FreeBSD and OpenBSD have their NIH
       hypervisors, but they are highly technical and work best when running
       their own kernel as the guest.
       
       My main use for qemu was to provide some isolation to compile, debug,
       or develop programs.  For example, i try to leave Slackware pristine
       on my primary system.  I compile packages in a VM instead.
       
       Prior to virtualization, i used `chroot` environments for this.
       This is still an option.  I could also investigate LXC and other
       container technologies.  I would lose the ability to run foreign
       kernels in a guest VM.  For that, i would set up separate hardware,
       as i did decades ago.
       
       tags: collapse,political,technical
       
       # Footnotes
       
  HTML [1] AI is Counterproductive (Feb 2026)
       
  TEXT [2] AI is Dehumanizing Technology
       
  TEXT [3] AI is Water Hungry
       
  HTML [4] VIM Classic
       
  HTML [5] Open Slopware List
       
  HTML [6] Qemu Is Pro-Slopware
       
   DIR [7] The AI Con
       
  HTML [8] "AI" Is A Dick Move
       
  TEXT [9] Backlink to freet's phlog
       
  TEXT [10] Backlink to f6k's phlog
       
       # Tags
       
   DIR collapse
   DIR political
   DIR technical