Agents are here. Resistance is futile.

I'm Walt Parkman. I have had 16 software developer jobs over many years, using several languages and databases. I have worked for four major defense contractors building systems for military health care, military housing and military recruiting. I worked on a law enforcement system. I spent over ten years in the casino business, doing data warehousing and a reporting app for casino regulators. Then AI made a sudden, spectacular and liberating entrance.

Now, as of 04/28/2025, Windsurf, backed by the latest LLM models such as OpenAI o3, is a superb AI software craftsman. Using it, one person can now quickly modify and test massive codebases in any language, even the very large Odoo business software.

A powerful, wonderful new trend has begun called "vibe coding". Vibe Coders rely absolutely on Large Language Models (LLMs). Instead of manually writing all the code, the programmer uses natural language descriptions and conversational prompts, typed or spoken, to have the AI generate the code. When the AI is set on the right course, it builds momentum and dominates the tasks.

This really works now. AI understands large codebases. New AI keeps coming out. Exponential improvement is happening. Vibe Coding will soon be the customary way of coding. Robust and secure code from the LLM is becoming superior to human-generated code.

If you feel that vibe, then welcome to the tribe. The tribe still does code reviews, but mostly just to admire the work of the AI.

I charge $200 for each agreed upon working software use case, and $50 per month base price to create and maintain a testing sandbox at Digital Ocean.

I sell my software to customers privately. I do not distribute it to the public at large.

Odoo.sh hosting plus the Enterprise license can cost over $200 per month for just a few users, but you get premium source code which I can modify for private use. Check the pricing configurator on their site.

If I modify code you have under the Odoo Enterprise license, you must keep it private. If I make software for you based on the Community edition, you may keep the software private, or if you want to modify it and sell it or freely distribute it, that is fine. This is because such software is copylefted. I can sell software that is based on projects licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).

Large free codebases like Odoo are protected by the LGPL agreement, otherwise known as Copyleft.

While seemingly related by name, copyright and copyleft are fundamentally different in their purpose and how they interact with creative works, particularly in the context of software.

Here's a breakdown of the key differences:

Copyright:

• What it is: Copyright is a legal right granted to the creator of original works of authorship, such as literary works (including code), music, art, and more. It arises automatically upon the creation and fixation of the work in a tangible form.
• Purpose: The primary purpose of copyright is to protect the creator's exclusive rights over their work. This is intended to incentivize creativity and allow creators to control how their work is used, reproduced, distributed, performed, and displayed.
• Rights Granted: Copyright typically grants the creator the exclusive rights to:
  • Reproduce the work.
  • Prepare derivative works (creations based on the original).
  • Distribute copies of the work.
  • Perform the work publicly.
  • Display the work publicly.
• Default State: Copyright, by default, is restrictive. It means that no one else can legally use, copy, distribute, or modify the work without explicit permission from the copyright holder, usually through a license.

Copyleft:

• What it is: Copyleft is not a separate area of law, but rather a licensing strategy that uses copyright law to achieve a specific goal: to ensure that a work and its future modified versions remain free and open.
• Purpose: The purpose of copyleft is to promote the freedom to use, study, modify, and distribute a work and to prevent others from making derivative works proprietary (closed source).
• How it Works: A copyleft license leverages the exclusive rights granted by copyright. The copyright holder grants users certain freedoms (like the right to use, modify, and distribute) but with a crucial condition: any distributed derivative works must be licensed under the same or a compatible copyleft license.
• Key Characteristic (The "Copyleft" Effect): This condition creates a "copyleft" or "viral" effect. If someone modifies copylefted code and distributes their modified version, they must also release their modifications under the same copyleft license. This ensures that the freedoms of the original work are passed down to subsequent users.
• Relationship to Copyright: Copyleft is dependent on copyright. Without copyright, the original author wouldn't have the exclusive rights to grant permissions and impose the copyleft condition in the first place.

In Simple Terms:

Think of copyright as the fence around a creative work, giving the owner control over who can access and use it. Copyleft, on the other hand, is like the owner opening the gate and inviting everyone in to use and build upon the work, as long as they also leave their gates open for others to do the same with their improvements.

While copyright is about reserving rights, copyleft is about using those reserved rights to ensure freedom and openness for the community.

Let us say that Joe's Bikes buys LGPL-licensed code from Walt's Apps. If Joe chooses to "open his gates" and allow others to see the code, Walt can't stop him. Joe has paid for that right because the code is LGPL. However, Joe can also keep the code private for his own internal use.

The key trigger for the LGPL's requirement to share source code is distribution (or "conveying" in the license text) of the software.

1. Consultant's Actions: The consultant modified the LGPL-licensed Odoo code to tailor it for Joe's Bikes. These modifications create a "derivative work" of the original LGPL code.
2. Joe's Bikes' Use: Joe's Bikes is using this modified version of Odoo internally for their business operations.
3. LGPL Obligations: The LGPL requires that if you distribute a work based on LGPL code, you must also make the source code for the LGPL parts and your modifications available to the recipient of that work under the terms of the LGPL.
4. How Joe's Bikes uses code from Walt's Apps:
   • Joe's Bikes is using the software internally.
   • Internal use, where the software is not being conveyed or distributed to external parties, generally does not trigger the LGPL's obligation to provide the source code to others.
   • Joe's Bikes is not distributing the modified Odoo software to "anyone who demanded to see the code" in the general public. They are the end-user in this scenario.

Conclusion:

Under a typical interpretation of the LGPL, Joe's Bikes would not be required to make the tailored code public to just anyone who demanded to see it, as long as they are only using the modified Odoo internally and are not distributing it externally.

Their obligation to provide the source code for their modifications would only arise if they were to:

• Distribute copies of the modified LGPL software (executables) to third parties outside of their organization.
• In certain specific scenarios related to network services under LGPL v3, though this is less common for modifications to the core application logic itself compared to libraries used by a separate network service.

Therefore, for internal use only, Joe's Bikes can keep the code for their specific tailoring private, even though it's based on LGPL software. The LGPL's reach primarily extends to those to whom the software is distributed.