GitHub Copilot has changed how developers write their code. However, it can also create issues when it creates code similar to what’s already available in another public repository. In 2022, GitHub launched a feature that allowed users to block suggestions of matching public code automatically. According to a GitHub spokesperson, this system would trigger less than 1% of the time. But sometimes, developers may want to see what these code fragments are — either to use them (within the licensing restrictions set up by their companies) or to maybe use the entire library this snippet came from.
So to find a middle ground, GitHub today launched a private beta of a code referencing feature for GitHub Copilot that will give developers this choice. With code referencing turned on, Copilot won’t automatically block any matching code it generates but instead shows it to developers in a sidebar and lets them decide what to do with it....
