The developer community was thrown into disarray when the creator of the popular VS Code Material Theme extension suddenly changed the project's license terms, threatening legal action against users and attempting to erase the project's open source history. This incident has sparked widespread concern and prompted a swift community response.
License Bait-and-Switch
The controversy centers around the VS Code Material Theme extension creator who appears to have retroactively changed the project's license from Apache License 2.0 to a proprietary license. According to community reports, the developer went as far as wiping the commit history to conceal the fact that the project was originally open source. This move has been met with significant backlash, especially considering that the project had previously accepted contributions from other developers under the open source license.
It's assumed that your contribution will be licensed with the current license (generally). Maintainers can change the license but that wouldn't affect prior contributions. Basically anything up to that license change would still have the original license. This is what makes forks possible when popular software changes their license.
The situation is particularly ironic given that Material Design itself is Google's design system that the theme is based on, raising questions about the creator's claims to ownership of what are essentially color schemes and design elements.
Technical Issues and User Experience
Beyond the licensing controversy, users have reported significant technical problems with the extension. Many VS Code users found themselves unable to uninstall the extension, with it mysteriously reinstalling itself each time VS Code was reopened. This behavior has raised security concerns, especially given that users discovered obfuscated code in the extension that appears to have been processed through an online obfuscator.
The community has documented workarounds for completely removing the problematic extension, including manually deleting extension folders and editing configuration files. This requires users to navigate to their VS Code extensions directory, delete the Equinusocio Material Theme folder, and in some cases modify the extensions.json file to prevent it from reinstalling.
How to Remove the Problematic Extension (Windows)
- Close VS Code completely
- Navigate to
%username%\.vscode\extensions - Delete the Equinusocio Material Theme folder
- Rename 'extensions' JSON file to 'extensions.old'
- Reopen VS Code (this will create a new extensions JSON file)
- Install alternative theme if desired
Community Response and Alternatives
In response to this situation, developer and tech influencer Theo (t3dotgg) has created a fork of the original theme called Material Theme (But I Won't Sue You). This alternative has quickly gained traction as users seek to replace the problematic extension while maintaining their preferred visual experience in VS Code.
The incident has sparked broader discussions about the sustainability of open source projects and the tensions that can arise when creators attempt to monetize previously free software. Some community members have expressed sympathy for the original developer's desire for compensation, while others have criticized the hostile approach and questioned what ongoing maintenance such a theme actually requires.
Code analysis of the forked repository reveals that the theme consists of approximately 1,650 lines of TypeScript code, with a significant portion being color definitions. This has led some to question the claims about the substantial ongoing maintenance burden that would justify aggressive monetization tactics.
This situation serves as a reminder of the sometimes fragile nature of the open source ecosystem and the importance of clear licensing from the outset. It also highlights how quickly the developer community can respond to provide alternatives when popular tools take controversial turns.