byuu wrote:
calima, I'm trying not to name names. Causes too much drama.
I'm not concerned about how much he's making. I even advised him from the start that he was free to use the software under the GPL, but the GPL has requirements: the source must be available, you must clearly disclose credits for the software you're using, and there's the anti-TiVo clause that I don't know if it applies to Steam or not.
The GPL *does* allow companies to profit off others' work, as he is doing, but it comes with terms that he is currently violating.
tepples, it's not worth all the drama. If it were a large company, I'd be a lot more willing to speak to a lawyer about it.
Anyway, this isn't about me. I was just pointing out that people WILL violate software licenses. I'd love it if jwdonal released his work for free like I did (I've put in 13 years of full-time dev work myself), and I'm sure he's benefited from that work himself for his project, but he should be fully informed before he does so that this stuff is inevitable.
Yeah. There really isn't a way to enforce licenses unless you're willing to fight anyone that breaks it in court (after providing notices and whatnot). That goes for any license though, regardless of whether it's for open source or not.
I'm not sure if the GPLv3 prevents distribution on Steam so long as the source is freely available on another platform (such as a git repo). Since the PC is the platform and it is not a closed platform, I don't think that would be considered TiVoization.
As for distributing proprietary ROMs with GPL licensed software (as written on your website), just look at the Linux kernel, which has plenty of proprietary blobs embedded in the source code. In fact, a separate project (Linux-libre) was needed just to remove those blobs to make the kernel fully libre, so I don't think distributing a proprietary ROM with a GPL emulator would be a problem, so long as you follow the terms of the GPL.
I never really got the problem with companies not willing to distribute source for GPL licensed projects that they're using. Would it really have a negative impact on them if they release it and give credit to the original author?
IANAL though, so please correct me if any of this is incorrect.
Also off topic, but you should include the full text of the GPLv3 in the higan source code in a file called COPYING in order to properly make the license clear. I'm not seeing it anywhere in the source (other than comments at the top of files that just says the word "GPLv3").
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-howto.en.html Another file with a link to the page on your website about licensing (or a copy of the text) would also be helpful for those that want to purchase a proprietary license.