Hackers' Pub

Syntax	Description	Examples
`"` keyword `"`	Finds the string within quotes, including spaces. Case-insensitive. (Escape quotes inside with `\"`)	`"Hackers' Pub"`
`from:` handle	Finds content written by the specified user.	`from:hongminhee` `from:hongminhee@hollo.social`
`lang:` ISO 639-1	Finds content written in the specified language.	`lang:en`
`#` tag	Finds content with the specified tag. Case-insensitive.	`#HackersPub`
condition condition	Finds content that satisfies both conditions on either side of the space (logical AND).	`"Hackers' Pub" lang:en`
condition `OR` condition	Finds content that satisfies at least one of the conditions on either side of the OR operator (logical OR).	`#HackersPub OR "Hackers' Pub" lang:en`
`(` condition `)`	Combines the operators within the parentheses first.	`(#HackersPub OR "Hackers' Pub" OR "Hackers Pub") lang:en`

Simon Willison @simon@fedi.simonwillison.net

3/5/2026, 4:53:11 PM

Public

The chardet open source library relicensed from LGPL to MIT two days ago thanks to a Claude Code assisted "clean room" rewrite - but original author Mark Pilgrim is disputing that the way this was done justifies the change in license - my notes here: https://simonwillison.net/2026/Mar/5/chardet/

Can coding agents relicense open source through a “clean room” implementation of code?

Over the past few months it’s become clear that coding agents are extraordinarily good at building a weird version of a “clean room” implementation of code. The most famous version …

simonwillison.net · Simon Willison’s Weblog

doboprobodyne @doboprobodyne@mathstodon.xyz

3/5/2026, 8:26:43 PM

Public

@simonSimon Willison Obviously! The source code is: that code required to produce the binary. That code was LGPL. It doesn't matter how many algorithms, nor the nature of the algorithms, it goes through to become those 1s and 0s.

#law #lawfare #computerScience #intellectualProperty #licensing #FOSS #GNU #LGPL #MIT #code #softwareEngineering #LLM #codeWashing

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