LinksyDownload

Linksy is open source, for the long run

By , who makes Linksy. Updated .

Linksy for Linux is free software, under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3 or later. You can read every line of it, build it yourself, change it and share it. It's also the first project I've started with the plan to maintain it for years, not months.

Why open source

An app that sees your screen, your files and your camera should be one you can check. Saying "no cloud" and "the relay can't read your data" is only worth something if anyone can verify it, and with the source open, anyone can. Linux users also expect to build and package their own software, and should be able to.

Why the AGPL

The AGPL keeps Linksy free for everyone who receives it. If someone shares a changed version, or runs one for others over a network, they give their users the same freedom: the source code of their version, under the same license. Nobody can take Linksy, close it, and sell it back as a service.

Built in the open

  • The code is on GitHub, with its full history.
  • The roadmap is public, as a document and as a project board with a milestone per release.
  • Problems and ideas go in the issues. People have already sent fixes, like openSUSE support.
  • Contributions are welcome; the contributing guide explains how to build it and send a change.
  • Security problems can be reported privately through GitHub's advisories.

Here for the long term

Linksy is the first project I've started that I'm planning to maintain for the long term. The roadmap runs to version 1.0, after which there are no new features, only fixes, performance and better support for more phones, computers and app stores. The goal is an app that keeps working, quietly, for as long as you use it.

How it's made

Linksy is built by one developer. Claude is the main tool I code with, alongside me; the commits it helped with say so, in their history.

What's included

The Linux app, its background service, the command line tool and the core that speaks Linksy's protocol are all in the open repository. The core is written in Rust; the app uses GTK 4 and libadwaita. The libraries Linksy builds in are under the MIT, Apache 2.0, BSD and similar licenses, listed in the THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES file that ships with every package.