this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Please be careful when copying anything that could be considered your employer's intellectual property (almost certainly anything you built as an employee falls into this category) off of that employer's systems.
And definitely be even more careful about using one employer's IP for a new employer (neither company would be pleased to discover this).
I am careful, but not concerned. The new company's IT doesn't give a damn about anything that I set up or implemented. Their reactions when I was describing my work and job role before the buyout was essentially, "Aww, the cute little sysadmin was making scripts and using Linux, isn't that sweet."
As far as they're concerned, all the old hardware and software are e-waste and are being scrapped. They are ripping out everything, literally. From our phone system, to our physical devices, to our firewalls, network switches, Active Directory, and file server.
They are replacing every single part of our infrastructure. Everything I built is useless in their eyes.
It's incredible how that proprietary software is actually inefficient e-waste. Most FOSS isn't bloated or slow, but proprietary software got the high ground because of contracts and "security", I'm sure.
I always advocate for FOSS solutions at my work, but most of the time I get shut down with some variation of “We prefer $MSP’s solution because it gives us someone else to blame if shit hits the fan”. I hate that sentiment, but I appreciate the honesty.
"But it wouldn't hit the fan so much if we stopped using Microsoft's half-baked products!"
It always falls on deaf ears. I can't believe how many millions my employer throws at Microsoft every year just to complain about how broken it is.
But it's also difficult to prove you didn't make it similarly 2 times. Just do some name changing, reordering and some slight changes and you should be golden.
I don’t know if there’s any precedence for this, but I could see a court asking to see the git commit log if things went that far.
Depends on where you work and what their policies are. My work does have many strict policies on following licenses, protecting sensitive data, etc
My solution was to MIT license and open source everything I write. It follows all policies while still giving me the flexibility to fork/share the code with any other institutions that want to run something similar.
It also had the added benefit of forcing me to properly manage secrets, gitignores, etc
I don't know where you are, but this isn't always enough. If it's your employer's IP it's not yours to license to begin with.
In my situation, it even extends to any hobby projects I work on and I don't think my situation is unusual.
That said, most employers don't care about hobby projects with no earning potential.
That seems like a good idea.
True. In my particular case it's not an issue (because of a long and boring story I can'tbe arsed getting into), but shielding oneself as well as the employer from legal liability is important.
Very unlikely $NEW_EMPLOYER will run all your ideas past $OLD_EMPLOYER to see if it's their code...
Will they even know if they are throwing it all away?