@dansup I was kind of hoping for reproducible builds down the line, with a setup like this that won't be happening sadly :/

@dansup I figure clones will always happen, but you don’t want to _accelerate_ them with your own work for sure; and particularly while you’re launching.
Perhaps you could start by open sourcing your code N months delayed, (but publishing all the hashes between now and then, to demonstrate honesty). As Loops gains visibility & prestige (so clones are less damaging), you could reduce the delay time.
(This would probably work best if your camera work is a totally separate repo!)

@dansup just from your post, I don't see any reason to not publish the code: I don't see why shady clone apps would have a better chance of tricking people with or without that code. On the other hand, if the code is good, then it's a valuable contribution to the ecosystem and may benefit many other interesting projects.

@dansup someone will always copy open source code which has gotten a degree of visibility. That should make you proud, not worried. At least that is how i see it.

@dansup I would say if you truly feel uncomfortable but still feel torn, open source it but delay the release of that specific code

But also want to say that open source is the mycelium of software and most of the code we all benefit from is code that people put there life's essence into. You would be adding to that and having people use that code shows the value of that code. If it is truly valuable it will become part of that foundation.

@dansup
As others said: publishing code different from what 's in the stores is problematic.

How about creating a library with the camera code and a really strong license? Add some features that will make it easily identifyable but can't be removed easily. That way copycats will either be identified quickly or have to put in enough effort to make copying unattractive.
If they violate the license there are a lot of organisation (FSF and others) that might help with taking legal actions.

@dansup Do you use Open Source libraries in the software you build? Often libraries that did not exist until someone published them.

It feels like somewhat against the very spirit of open protocols and collaboration to be considering publishing something like that closed source, pulling the ladder up as it were.

@dansup
Not open sourcing the whole code means no distribution through f-droid which would be really sad...