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Licensing for GlN64

Tillin9

Mupen64Plus Dev.
Howdy, as part of the license audit for Mupen64Plus, we're trying to track down Orkin, the original glN64 author. So far our attempts have not been successful.

Since glN64's code has no copyright or licensing, we can't include it with Mupen64Plus when we get included in the offical Debian / Ubuntu repositories and might have to remove the plugin from our source tree.

Considering glN64 is one of our most flexible video plugins, and currently the only one working under OSX, we don't really want to remove it. Hence, if anyone on the forums has another way to contact Orkin, we'd really appreciate your help in getting in touch with him.

Thanks in advance.
 
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GarulfoLinux

New member
Hum, if you can't manage to join Orkin, the gln64 plugin has no licence or copyright, and you can get the source code, i think you can apply a free software licence like GPL or BSD.
 
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Tillin9

Mupen64Plus Dev.
We have the source. Your advice would be true if the code was public domain, but sadly we don't know if it is.

Since the code isn't old enough to become public domain as an abandoned work, we can't really do anything with it officially.

If anyone is a lawyer or wants to consult a friend in the official legal department to ask about this, it would be appreciated. However, I seriously doubt that unresponsiveness is legal precedent for code to be relicensed, even on the order of 5 years.
 

GarulfoLinux

New member
Tillin9, well and why not create a fork of this project ?
Or more simply, you can always use the source code of Archnoid like its license is under the GPL.
 
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Tillin9

Mupen64Plus Dev.
Hmm... very odd. First off Archnoid won't compile with mupen as its currently Win32 only, it would need some work. However...

I had thought I missed the copyright in main.cpp, as I actually had looked at the Archnoid code awhile back for ways to improve Mupen's video plugins. At the time I was somewhat upset that the code I found was virtually the same, with the major changes I could see being made by Blight or other Mupen developers in regards to a linux port. However, the linked code is not what I looked at, but much newer!

Porting this work to linux would solve our issues completely and might actually be worthwhile (from a bug fix / feature perspective) after porting the Glide64 HQ work.

However, this also presents a way to GPL the code we have on the basis that Orkin allowed GPLed derivative works to be made of his original code. Anyone with a firmer legal grasp have an opinion?
 
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thatmariolover

New member
You could choose to use Arachnoid as you seem pleased with some of the changes. The GPL is quite free in what you can and can't do. But if you're on some moral ground that you shouldn't use GLN64 because there's no license, then using Arachnoid (which has no public documentation of Orkin saying please use my code) is equally questionable.

So I guess I probably don't know the law as well as you guys. But it really seems to me that if one is illegal, the other is too. And if not, not.
 
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Tillin9

Mupen64Plus Dev.
The issue here is that Debian (and thus all daughter distros like Ubuntu) has very strict code licensing and copyright requirements for any code to be included in the official repositories. They do this both from moral viewpoint of keeping open source "free" and from a legal viewpoint of they really don't have the resources if someone was to sue.

As far as glN64, from Debian's and a strict legal perspective there is no "no licensing" choice. The closest thing is public domain, but there is no documentation of Orkin saying this. Putting the code online for others to freely download without a license is not public domain, nor does it even imply we're allowed to distribute the code. Technically Orkin could say he doesn't want us distributing his code and could potentially sue the Mupen64Plus project for doing so right now. Legally, any code is by default proprietary code belonging to the author (with all rights reserved) until otherwise stated or 20 years (or longer, I'm not 100% sure on the limits of code copyright) have passed.

I'll admit that the chances of Orkin doing so are next to nill, but technically such action is within his legal rights, which is why Debian has the policy it does.
 

vinipsmaker

C/C++ programmer, emacs user
I think we could use the concept of the plugin and made the "Mupen64plus team video plugin".

If we make various changes, then I think this is make a new plugin, as the Arachnoid made with own plugin.

I vote use the glN64 plugin with the Arachnoid improvements, renamed to "Mupen64plus team video plugin" and licensed as GNU General Public License, Version 2.
 

Remote

Active member
Moderator
A quick dipp into the internet says that he used to/is still attending University of ***. So maybe a phone call there or a well written e-mail could get you recent contact information?

God speed :p
 
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Pyromanik

New member
As far as I know this was Tillin9's project.
However he's not around much these days since he got his new job.
Can often be found in channel in the weekends though.

I don't know what the current status is on this issue.

I personally have not made any attempt to contact orkin, no.
 

Slougi

New member
That e-mail address bounces. Someone who was based in the US was supposed to call the university but that never happened.
 

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