
What happen to your source code and database when you die prematurely? - simplelife
I&#x27;m a solo developer developing custom web applications for organisations the size of 100 - 2000 employees. Recently they ask me for my backup plan if I die prematurely. I&#x27;m thinking of a dead man switch using aws lambda. If I don&#x27;t respond to the email within 45 days, it will then send an email to the point of contact on how to access the servers and database. Is there any better way to do this?
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brudgers
Random advice from the internet.

0\. Talk to the people asking the question and ask them what they are
comfortable with. Relying on AWS lambda is great so long as your credit card
still works, the code contains no bugs, there isn't a problem with the email,
and somebody at the client's office understands what the email means and can
_quickly_ do what it takes to keep everything working...and there are no other
problems or circumstances.

1\. Consider the business value derived from continuing to be an information
bottleneck. An alternative is to set up servers and databases on accounts
controlled by your clients.

2\. To me, the conversation suggests at a minimum the client has done a risk
assessment. Though the questions may have been prompted by conversations with
a larger competitor (a competitor only needs two programmers to provide a more
robust bus factor).

3\. This is a business problem not a technical problem. It is also a business
opportunity. Maintaining servers and databases is commodity work. Expertise in
solving the businesses problems and an ongoing relationship is value added
work and can lead to better contracts and better clients.

Good luck.

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goodells
The best solution will depend on your needs and the specifics of the
situation, but one alternative to a dead man switch is to have instructions or
credentials that require multiple trusted people to access. If you are
paranoid you can choose people who don't even know each other, or give
yourself the option to cancel the release of the information with a dead man
switch with a shorter duration. It'd be a shame if such a complicated system
that isn't tested much were to fail, though...

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informatimago
An easy solution is to deliver your software with the sources to your
customers, along with a license allowing them to use them in case of
disparition without any entity inheriting the rights on your software.

An alternative, but similar thing, is to put your sources in escrow, so that
they become available to the customers only in such an occurence.

Of course, you may also merely distribute it as free software, with the
sources stored on multiple public git repositories.

