O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us
To see oursels as others see us
It's the browsers that are wowsers
The UXP Browser Bundle previously included build-able copies of Interlink and Borealis Navigator. The two programs have been removed for now due to the need for more work. However, you can get the original source code here.
1. What is this page?
This is the Rescued Interlink Source Code page.
Interlink is a UXP-based and XUL-compatible fork of Thunderbird that Matt Tobin worked on.
Tobin's practice was to illegally withhold the project source code. Tobin went so far as to use the threat of DMCA to persuade Github to take down a repo even though he had no standing to do so. This may have been a prosecutable crime on Matt's part.
This page distributes the repo that Matt Tobin illegally took down. There's a related note to Matt at the bottom below.
The repo includes source code for both Interlink and Borealis Navigator, a related program that Tobin has stated can't be separated cleanly and easily from Interlink.
2. A few more details.
At the same time that Matt Tobin was withholding the Interlink source code, he threatened other developers who were so bold as to use public source code for PaleMoon, a related project. In Matt's life, as in so many others, irony abounds.
Matt's defense for his conduct was that he was willing to send source code to people who requested it by email. However, he admitted publicly, and people in the PaleMoon community were aware, that this was a false statement.
Matt usually sent source code only to people that he trusted not to redistribute it. The others were referred to, in his circle, as “traitors”. It was an odd perspective for a FOSS project.
3. Abode of the code.
3.1. This is an unmodified copy of a 7Z file that was sent to me:
It's 36MB packed and 60MB unpacked. The contents are a “git” repo where the top commit is dated August 19, 2021.
3.2. I've received the following TBZ tarball separately:
The person who sent me this one may or may not have been Matt himself.
The latter tarball seems to contain an incomplete copy of the Interlink code. Matt Tobin might claim that it's complete enough if one knows what to do with it. However, it isn't enough to establish license compliance on Tobin's part due to the fact that he didn't give out the source code to everybody.
4. Note to Matt Tobin.
Date: Updated on March 06, 2025
To: Matt Tobin aka Captain Tobin and New Tobin Paradigm
From: Robert Kiraly (the Old Coder)
Subject: Reflection
Matt, you've lost your father, your home of many years, and the project that you worked so hard on. Possibly the British rock star friend or sort-of lover [Sonic Kid] as well.
You're also old now. I've got a generation on you. I'll be 70 in the foreseeable future. I can confirm that it doesn't get better.
You're not just neurodiverse. You're mentally ill. But, if you work on it, that's all right. I'd like to invite you to email me sometime.
If you'd like to have a future in FOSS, or to have a worthwhile legacy of any type at the end, you do need to reflect.
The PaleMoon stuff isn't water under the bridge. There are lessons to be learned. In the past few years, has the following happened to sink in?
* You lied about distribution of the source code
* You admitted this publicly
* PaleMoon people are able to back up the point
* The Feodor2 story had the potential to go viral
* Viral wouldn't have gone well for you. At all.
* You had no standing to talk to Github about DMCA
* That may have been a prosecutable crime on your part
I'm sympathetic. It isn't condescending to state that. I was sorry to hear of the passing of your father. But at least you had one. Now you're the older generation or will be soon. You need to look at things on that basis.
Write if you like. But don't cross the line if you'd like any type of support.
Regards, Robert (the Old Coder)