Re: About GPL3 req's for open src?

[Jibartik]

Ive always wanted to start with a titanium server, and just customise it, how difficult is it to figure out? Last time I tried I was like, f**************k this.

[Jimjam]

Having server/client source but no db would sure make hacking creating my own empty server easier!

[loramin]

And again, I'm speaking as someone who had the same misunderstanding, and was disabused of it in this long thread: https://www.project1999.com/forums/s...d.php?t=395987

[PabloEdvardo]

This is a dangerous topic to broach simply because around here we don't complain or criticize the devs and their decisions. This is their project, their forum, and they prefer to keep it that way.

As a software developer and someone who at one time worked on the eqemulator codebase (prior to p99 even existing), I'm definitely of the belief that it should be kept open source including all custom derivatives, and that arguing the semantics over distribution in GPL would likely not hold up well in court.

However, the stable legal situation that p99 managed to carve out for itself means even if the situation is less-than-ideal to some of us, we appreciate knowing the project isn't being shut down tomorrow from a DMCA.

[loramin]

Originally Posted by PabloEdvardo [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

This is a dangerous topic to broach simply because around here we don't complain or criticize the devs and their decisions. This is their project, their forum, and they prefer to keep it that way.

Your second sentence is 100% correct, but your first sentence is way off. As you can see from the thread I linked, the staff here happily let me spout falsehoods about the project for pages and pages, without intervention.

Eventually I understood my mistake and apologized, but the point is they are extremely open to letting people say just about anything in these forums, as long as it isn't a direct attack on them (and sometimes even then).

Honestly, I wish they moderated suff like hate speech more, but in general I have great respect for how much they allow people to say nearly anything here.

[Chortles Snortles]

i bet you feel pretty silly right now

[loramin]

Look, regular law is hard, for lawyers. You're a non-lawyer, trying to grok highly technical law just by reading a few sentences ... and that doesn't work.

So don't trust me: trust the experts. Just google "gpl3 server loophole" and at the top of the very first link you will find (emphasis added):

When the copyleft AGPL was first published, many leaders in the open source community had something to say about the issue of a supposed loophole in the GPL open source license that allowed SaaS companies to integrate GPL open source libraries without sharing their code. This “loophole” was intentionally left in version 3 of the GPL due to the fact that letting users interact with a piece of software over the network does not constitute distribution.

[Kich867]

I feel like this is just an elaborate troll. If P99 was actually legally obligated to do anything, instead of making a weird thinly veiled threat post on the forums, you could've just forced them to do it.

[tristantio]

https://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-affero-gpl.html was made to get around the SaaS loophole - p99 server is SaaS and not distributed, sorry to deflate your balloon.

This is largely a failing on the licensing of eqemu itself (if it were AGPLv3, you'd likely have a current copy of p99 source available locally for the last 10 years).