Ask HN: How does JetBrains protect their IDE Java source code?
On linux, after I installed goland, I could see a lot of .jar file and .class file inside. I don't know, I can see all of the source code ?
There isn't much value in trying to protect their source code. IDEs are evolving rapidly in response to languages, any decompilation you prepare would be outdated immediately. And nearly all JVM programs can be trivially cracked anyways, even if heavily obfuscated/guarded.
Or they may not bother, because what are you going to do with that source code anyway? You don't need it to pirate the IDE, there's no secret sauce in there, and you obviously can't use it to make a competitor. There would be very little value in obtaining the code.
.class files are Java bytecode.
What source code files are you seeing?
What are the filenames, etc.?
JetBrains's IDE source code would likely be Kotlin (.kt, .kts file extension) or Java (.java file extension) source code files.
(I just downloaded goland, and extracted a random jar file, and at least with that, the above paragraph seems to stand)
The Community edition lacks certain features, though.
this is also good for those who cant pay, some of them are students or professionals who just simply dont have the budget yet.