[cc-community] [cc-licenses] Most important feature: GPL-compatibility
Rob Myers
rob at robmyers.org
Sat Jan 28 12:41:58 EST 2012
On 28/01/12 16:37, Arne Babenhauserheide wrote:
> Am Donnerstag, 26. Januar 2012, 19:24:04 schrieb Rob Myers:
>>
>> The art isn't software, so it should be BY-SA.
>
> If it cannot be integrated into a combined work under GPL, then it is
> incompatible with GPL code,
This is true, but it is not useful as code and art (sic) have different
licencing requirements and are simple enough to tell apart.
> except where game engine and artwork are strongly seperated.
Which is likely when the work can usefully be re-used.
> As you can see, this `import`s the game engine in the first lines, so it has
> to be GPL licensed. The main content is textual, though, and could very well
> be drawn from an existing cc by-sa licensed text.
Sure. So BY-SA the text and GPL the code. If this is a problem as
currently written, refactor the code to remove this problem.
> Which would then be illegal, because cc and GPL are not compatible.
And so we cannot write BY-SA novels in GPL word processors, or in LaTeX.
Which is a problem... :-)
> or look at this programming tutorial:
>
> http://www.lisperati.com/casting-spels-emacs/html/casting-spels-emacs-24.html
> http://www.lisperati.com/casting-spels-emacs/html/casting-spels-emacs-10.html
>
> There is no strong distinction between data and code, because that distinction
> is an artificial one. It is made in many current languages, but by far not in
> all of them. And there is elegance
As a Lisp hacker myself I can hardly disagree. :-) But we are not
discussing data and code, we are discussing executable functionality and
original art.
>> This is a non-problem, except in so far as we wish to coerce software
>> developers into using the GPL as the price of using BY-SA artwork.
>
> I don’t see that connection. If you use BSD for your code, you can use cc by-
> sa as you wish. Only in case you want a strong copyleft license, you have to
> actually take care of the compatibility of both licenses.
"Compatibility" as used by the GPL means that a combined work can be
covered by the GPL. But the combined work is the program, not
necessarily its game assets as per the GPL FAQ.
Proper structuring and licencing of games may be more effective than GPL
compatibility.
- Rob.
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