1 year in - where are we at?

[The Joker]

Hey guys. I'm baaaaaack!

To butt into this discussion I think that we should propably release as much as possible. I feel the whole point of open source is that everybody can see what we have made. This means that I think we should release the UI 0.5, even though it is only a shell and contains no real gamelike elements. Anyway, will this mean that the UI 1.0 is when all buttons and other stuff is ready, and we then start actually putting a map and a game on top of that or what?

About copyrighting, again I think the open source part of our project means that we should keep the code open, most likely without copyright. So if someone knows how to improve a part of the code they could do so, and we could use it. We should definately not hide the code in any way from people wanting to see it and play with it. But maybe some kind of copyright should be considered? I''m not sure...

------------------
"If you are to hurt someone you better do it so good that you don't have to fear revenge."
- Machiavelli

GGS Website

[ElmoTheElk]

I have an quiet simple vision here: Share anything we make (including code) with the public as long as it is credited to us. Also, no one else is allowed to earn moneyy with stuff we made. As long as this is taken into account, they may freely use and/or moderate it.
To secure this, we need some sort of copyright licence, altough i'm not very into the open source-licences...


Elmo

[RonHiler]

quote: Originally posted by ElmoTheElk on 03-19-2001 02:02 PM To secure this, we need some sort of copyright licence, altough i'm not very into the open source-licences...

There seems to be a bit of confusion here about copyrights. There is no such thing as a copyright license. I am not a lawyer, but as I understand it, this is how it works.

A copyright is automatic. As soon as you put pen to paper or code to screen, or in any form create anything, it is copyrighted to you, without you having to do anything else. This is true whether or not you have a copyright notice or symbol attached. The only time this is not true is if you have a statement specifically to the effect that you give up all copyright rights to the product in question.

You can register a copyright with the government, just to have proof, if you like. This gives you no extra benefits of any kind, but it does give you proof should there be some dispute in court. I would think this forum's archives would have the same purpose (you can point to them and say "This clearly shows we came up with the concept, and implemented the ideas"). Registering a copyright generally requires you send them some sort of hard copy of the product, which is not so applicable to programs in mid-creation.

So I wouldn't worry too much about copyright issues. Put a copyright notice on your program, and modify it to allow use of the source, if you like. You may want to take a look at a copy of the GNU license for how they handle open-source code distribution (and license is a bad word, it's simply a statement of what rights they retain and which they wave as regards to use of the code).

Ron

[ElmoTheElk]

Thanks Ron for the help! Never knew it's pretty easy... Let's simply © all the code then and publish it! Although we have to be clear that it's very early code and not in any way final. Then there should be no problem.

What exectly do we want to publish?
Elmo

[VetLegion]

Yeah, as Ron said, copyright is automatic... I dont think it will be a problem to us.

[TempLeland]

quote: Originally posted by RonHiler on 03-20-2001 10:20 AM Put a copyright notice on your program, and modify it to allow use of the source, if you like. You may want to take a look at a copy of the GNU license for how they handle open-source code distribution (and license is a bad word, it's simply a statement of what rights they retain and which they wave as regards to use of the code).

Apparently we've selected zlib/libpng license as our preferred form of protection. Does anyone know what was the rationale behind it? I am not saying that I disagree, I find the license very straightforward and compact and don't know enough about copyright laws to tell whether it is appropriate for us or not. You can find the license here:

http://opensource.org/licenses/zlib-license.html

That was snipped from http://opensource.org , and it is in accordance with their Open Source Definition. I suppose we could start using GPL or come up with a license of our own, but I am not qualified to tell whether there is any need. I didn't even have the patience to read through GPL.

But this license is really applicable only to source code. That's just one part of the software, and because it is our current goal to make the game as customizable as possible it may be necessary to copyright graphics, texts, music(?) and other media separately. The design documents are probably something that is copyrighted automatically, and even if they weren't at least I wouldn't have any trouble with them being in public domain.

As for publishing source code now, I am not sure if that's necessary. Anyone who is interested can join the mailing list and ask the source from there, and grand public isn't probably interested in anything but the binaries. So, what if we put the executable of the UI demo on the web right away, but wait until we get CVS and all that crap ready before systematically starting to publish the source?

Leland

[RonHiler]

quote: Originally posted by TempLeland on 03-26-2001 03:23 PMSo, what if we put the executable of the UI demo on the web right away, but wait until we get CVS and all that crap ready before systematically starting to publish the source?

Excellent idea. I wholeheartedly endorse this approach

Ron

[ElmoTheElk]

Oke then, good idea. If Crispie mails me the compiled version of the latest UI (including the wrapping text box?), which should be around 0.5, I'll put it on the site.
When it's there, I might send a mail to dan or mark that we published our first ui proto. That will draw some attention to ggs.

Elmo

[The Joker]

I don't think we should make putting the UI demo on the website into a really big deal. Yeah, it's great. But as Chris says it's just a few buttons to press. It is a shell with nothing in it.

So I think that we should wait with the bignewsflash untill we have an actual demo.

------------------
I distrust those who pray; for they are putting their lives in the hands of strangers.

GGS Website

[ElmoTheElk]

Oke. Agreed. What about the wrapping text box crispie?