Hello evry1,

I am developing a game for Linux that uses GPL/LGPL software and I wound like to put a license on it. I have no experience in reading these legal papers. What is is the difference between the major software licences (MPL, GPL, MIT, X11, BSD, LGPL)?

I would like to have the game as as free and open source but I don't want people "modding" the game without my permission, ebent though that in somewhat of a paradox.

Any help deciphering the pros and cons of each is welcome.

iam_techno

Hello!

http://developer.kde.org/documentati...s_summary.html

My limited understanding of licensing is that you may need to use a GPL license if the game is using other GPL software to 'make it work'. Obviously, I am not a lawyer (IANAL), but that's what I think I've gleaned from discussions.

Cool

Yes, that is a paradox. What you are describing seems to be that you want people to be able to see the source, but they can't use it or modify it. You might as well keep your code proprietary if that's the case. Anyway, I suggest you do your own research. I'm sure there's a site out there that points out the major differences between licenses. Here's a couple starter links for you:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_license
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/


Its your responsibility to read and understand the license you chose to use -- not ours. Having no "legal reading experience" is not an excuse to not even attempt to read them. FYI: my game is licensed under the GPL, and that was a decision I came to after reading the GPL itself and coming to an understanding with it.

It is not that I don't want people to see and modify the sourcecode, I would like to have it the way that the Firefox team has it. Only in development can "outsiders" see and edit the source code, bu when the final software is released, let it already be compiled or at least be encrypted before it is compiled.

iam_techno

Hello evr1,

I have desided to open up the restrictions to my game. I would like have LQ members to help me pick a good licence. I have decided to allow people the FULL source code but I would like to quell the distrubution of modifications of my game. Ideally I want to have to right to allow or disallow mods of the source code.

Any help would be apriciated. If anyone have any copyright law experiece, I would like to enlist your help in possible drafting a custom licence if a sutable one is not found.

iam_techno

IANAL, but my suggestion would be to allow an "official" release of your game. You can then choose to accept/reject "patches and mods" as you see fit. Any other version wouldn't be the official version, but could indeed have those patches and mods that you may end up rejecting. Similar to any other open source project out there, but your spin is that you have the control over whether YOUR branch (the original) would be in your control; meaning you don't have to accept a patch BUT you cannot stop anyone from creating another branch that includes everything you have (and every update you provide) AS WELL AS the mods you rejected.

HTH

Cool

MasterC,

So do like the Linux kernel does and make a "vanilla" release and allow mods. I wonder if I can insert some kind of code that detects mods? The reason that I am so paranoid about mods is that I don't want people making mods that benifit only themselves, if you catch my drift.

iam_techno