superturtlee/lsposed_git_analysis

This repository is an analysis project that investigates whether the makers of LSPosed, a popular Android customization tool, broke their promise to keep the software open-source. The code in this repo was used to dig into the project's history and argue that LSPosed unfairly took thousands of community contributions, then closed the code off to the public. LSPosed is part of a family of tools stretching back a decade (starting with Xposed, then EdXposed) that let people modify how their Android phones work. All of these tools were built on a legal agreement called the GPL, which essentially says: if you use this code, you must share your changes with everyone else. The analysis found that over 84% of the work on LSPosed was done by outside volunteers. Later, the core team claimed they "cleansed" the code of outside contributions so they could legally close the project. This analysis would be used by open-source advocates, community moderators, or curious developers who want to understand the controversy around LSPosed going closed-source. For example, if you are an Android hobbyist wondering whether you should keep using LSPosed, or a contributor concerned your volunteer work was taken advantage of, this writeup breaks down the history and legal questions. Beyond the social arguments, the project relies on a Python script to comb through years of commit history and calculate exactly how much was built by the community versus the core team. It uses this data to challenge the practicality of the team's "code cleansing," arguing that fully replacing thousands of lines of volunteer-written code is nearly impossible to do cleanly without leaving traces of the original logic. Ultimately, the repository serves as both a data-backed critique and a warning. It documents how a project heavily reliant on community goodwill can legally and ethically fracture an open-source ecosystem, and it urges users to shift their support to genuinely open alternatives.