Secure Messaging Service - Wire has gone Open Source

Secure Messaging Service - Wire has gone Open Source for inviting developers to build clients

The secure messaging service Wire, which offers encrypted text, voice and audio calls, has gone open-source. 

Source code posted on GitHub include various bits and pieces from Wire’s native iOS, Android, Windows and Mac OS X app, plus its Linux-compatible web app.

Popular for its robust data privacy promises, the service is inviting developers, hackers and wannabe-tinkers to build their own Wire clients, review the code, and help contribute.  

The CTO and co-founder of Wire, Alan Duric, says: “Open sourcing was always part of our initial plan and […] it took some time to reach this stage. We decided to take the open source path because transparency and community engagement is of utmost importance for any product that has security at its core.” “Open-sourcing the full Wire client code base represents an important milestone [for the company and the challenges it faces]. We can also imagine in the weeks, months and years to come that an open source, secure messenger client could be appealing in an internet of things paradigm, digital health and the automotive industry too.”

Everything developers and interested hackers need to get started can be found up on the Wire Github account.

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What is Open Source?

What is Open Source?

Open source software is software like any other. However it is distinguished by its license, or terms of use, which guarantees certain freedoms, in contrast to closed proprietary software which restricts these rights. Open source software guarantees the right to access and modify the source code, and to use, reuse and redistribute the software, all with no royalty or other costs. In some cases, there can be an obligation to share improvements with all.

Open Source software is a software whose source code are distributed freely and openly. Open source describes computer software for which:

• The source code is available to the end-user.
• The source code can be modified by the end-user.
• There are no restriction on redistribution or use.
• The licensing conditions are intended to facilitate continued re-used and wide availability of the software in both commercial and non-commercial context.

The Open Source Initiative (OSI) maintains the Open Source Definition (OSD), and is recognised globally as the authority on certifying whether a license is truly open source. There is no reason why any public body would deviate from the OSD and the OSI certifications of true open source licenses. Whilst there are many open source licenses, the majority of commonly used software uses the same handful of common licenses. This means that the legal and commercial overhead for understanding and managing open source licenses is significantly reduced.

It is common for the open computing community to distinguish between ―free‖ meaning zero-price, and "free" meaning the liberty and guarantees discussed above. To help distinguish the two, the term "libre" is increasingly used for the latter.

There are a variety of licence models for open source, where each licence model has specific terms for the use and modification of code. For this reason, it is important to understand both the specifics of the open source licence in question and how the Department intends to use and redistribute any modified OSS. 12 The most widely known models are:

a. GPL version3, and version 2 is still widely used

b. GNU Lesser General Public Licence (LGPL)

c. BSD Licence

d. Mozilla Public Licence (MPL)

e. Apache Licence

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