I don't see a reason why you guys are talking about the "source code". Forknote provides the source code given certain attributes.
Source code can be released anytime.
Yes you can mine without the source code of cryptonotes however you dont get to an exchange without the source code.
An what is the point to mine if there is no exchange.
I do understand a LOT about cryptonotes and I can tell you the following, I bet some exchanges might be running Forknote daemons as we talk. Also as you may know ForkNote current version uses Bytecoin's code, ForkNote source code is also public as you may know, it's just a simple way to launch cryptonote coins given certain attributes in a config file. All the "source code" cryptonote coins you know can be launched with forknote. The reverse-engineering can also be done as I said before. Forknote is and will be the most advanced cryptonote software.