Civ2, FreeCiv and the GPL nitty-gritty

[Vasc]

Originally posted by curtsibling
Any CIV stuff I happen to make is public domain. (with permission)
I will protect my own artwork however.

Or in other words, it isn't public domain. "Public domain" means you allow everyone to do whatever they want with your work, no permission, no nothing.

[Harry Tuttle]

Ahem, can we drop the subject right now, and maybe, just maybe, walk away from the topic for 24 hours?

The last thing I want is for some damn fight to break out over this.

So how about everyone CHILL OUT and stop posting anything for the time being.

and no apologies, no nothing, just drop the subject. Please.

[Vasc]

Yes, this is a good idea.

I would rather spend time coding than with legal discussions anyway.

[Mercator]

Don't drop it now! I just made a new thread all for discussing this.

Flame eachother, damnit!

[Yog-Sothoth]

Originally posted by Mercator
Don't drop it now! I just made a new thread all for discussing this.

Flame eachother, damnit!

That's not something I expected to hear from a moderator

[St Leo]

Whee.

Copyright is a monopoly granted to creators by the state in order to encourage creation. It varies from country to country, but can be said to last all of your life and then another 70 years for the benefit of your bloodsucking kids.


(For various stupid reasons, copyrights are transferable. Some very nasty contracts in the recording industry are a result of this. A record label will give a musician a start-up loan and in exchange get the copyright to the music the musician records under their wings.

The loan has to be repayed from the miniscule royalties musicians get, so most musicians never see royalties. The main benefit of signing up with a label is name recognition for a long-term concert career.)


"Public domain" means that you give up your copyright. You cannot withdraw things from the public domain.


As the copyright holder, you control the distribution of copies of your work. You can license the work under different terms. GPL (General Public License) is just one of these terms.

For example, MySQL, the database Apolyton runs on, is available under the GPL. Markos gets it for free, but if he changes the underlying programming code and wants to distribute it, he has to distribute it under the GPL.

However, MySQL is written by a tight group of programmers. Yahoo.com wanted a closed commercial version of it, so they paid the MySQL group for a non-GPL version. Since every person who ever contributed code to MySQL agreed, this was legal.

Selling a GPL-ed program like Freeciv for money is stupid, because you have to sell the programming code along with the problem. That means that the first buyer will be able to make it available for free to everyone else and drive the seller out of business.

It's possible to make money selling the convenience of Freeciv preburnt to disk, or 24-hour Freeciv technical support, or something of that sort. But your buyers will also be able to charge others for this.


If you draw something and license it to the Freeciv guys under GPL, you retain the full copyright over it. If, for example, Alex Mor wants to modify it and then sell the result with restrictions, he can pay you for a different license.

Oh, and, of course, if you modify someone else's GPLed graphics, you will not be able to distribute your edit while banning other folk from sharing/editing it as well (i.e. it's still under GPL).

And, uhm, if someone were to start writing a new game under the GPL, they would be able to pilfer the default Freeciv graphics set as much as they'd like.

[St Leo]

Mercator is a Hitler-loving Nazi!

[curtsibling]

Originally posted by Mercator
Don't drop it now! I just made a new thread all for discussing this.

Flame eachother, damnit!

Refreshing!

I am not the kind of person who wishes to ruffle the feathers of posters here.

I guess I was not giving a good example of our forum either.

I was being unfair and uncompromising too - No reason to clash swords over this topic!

The creator/coder/artist has many avenues to choose what happens to his work at the end of the day.
And whatever system of publicity he goes for, it is logical to just read the conditions and decide.

If it is relevant - Perhaps I should have said this to begin with...

So let me fling you chaps a virtual beer and offer an olive branch.

Also, I would say that after playing Freeciv, I am most impressed.
It shows huge promise as a test-bed for development.

Sorry, Merc...I have killed the flame-fest!
(Please don't perm-ban me now!)

[Mercator]

Originally posted by Yog-Sothoth
That's not something I expected to hear from a moderator

Two words: Reverse psychology... It's working, isn't it?

Originally posted by St Leo
Mercator is a Hitler-loving Nazi!

You... Stalin-loving Commie!

The post before it was very good though. It cleared up most of the questions I still had.

[CapTVK]

Exellent summary St. Leo

In my explanation I guess I wasn't totally clear. I should have stated the distinct difference between GPL/copyright and the public domain. Then again I probably would have needed an entire page for what St.Leo has summed up in a nutshell.

Still, I may be able to answer some minor questions or otherwise give some examples. Freeciv isn't the only GPL game out there, others are quite fun too.