Ethereum scaling solution Polygon has recently accused Matter Labs, the developers behind the zkSync rollup, of copying portions of Polygon's open-source code without proper attribution. The allegations were made public in a tweet on Thursday, prompting a response from Matter Labs denying any wrongdoing.

Open-source software licenses allow developers from outside the projects to access, study, modify, and distribute the code. However, common community norms and open-source licenses mandate proper acknowledgment when using code from other sources. Polygon claimed that Matter Labs' newly released proving system, named Boojum, contained copy-pasted code from their "Plonky2" software library without providing due credit to the original authors.

Polygon raised concerns in a blog post, asserting that using code without proper attribution and making misleading claims about its origin violates the principles of open-source ethics and can be detrimental to the broader ecosystem.

Matter Labs CEO and co-founder Alex Gluchowski responded to the allegations, stating that Boojum leveraged only 5% of the Plonky2 code and that proper attribution was provided in the first line of the module. They argued that the inclusion of the original authors' attribution in the library was clear enough.

In the response, he represented the accusations as “unfounded, misleading, and extremely disappointing.”

In its blog post, Polygon presented several screenshots comparing its code to Matter Labs', highlighting the alleged lack of proper attribution. Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski linked to one of the files in question on Twitter, emphasizing the attribution provided.

The conflict sheds light on the competitive landscape between the two companies, both vying to expand Ethereum's reach and attract users and investors to their respective zero-knowledge rollups. These layer 2 blockchains aim to offer faster and more cost-effective transactions by offloading traffic from the Ethereum main chain.

As the situation unfolds, it exemplifies the complexities and challenges in the open-source culture, where sharing code can lead to collaboration and growth, but also potential conflicts when competing interests are involved. Both firms continue to defend their positions, and the community awaits a more detailed response from Matter Labs in the coming days.