[Kde-games-devel] Updating AMOR

[Sean O'Brien]

Kleag -

I think the license.txt you refer to is in the binary release of the program.  
The source code is made available here, and the license.txt I refer to is 
from that file: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Haven/4173/nkosrc4.zip

I also attached the source to my kde-apps.org post, which has screenshots and 
a longer description of what I'd like to do: 
http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=39603

The program is open source, and the portions that are from oneko are free 
software, licensed under the GPL (although the author of Neko98 didn't make 
the GPL available).  The license section, "You are free to use the source 
files in any way you wish, as long as credit is given." might also qualify 
the entire program as free software, although a full-GPL release would 
clarify things.  Hopefully the author gets back to me soon; if not, I don't 
see any legal reasons not to proceed...does anyone else?  I'm also not a 
lawyer, but I don't see any barriers to using the code.



On Monday 22 May 2006 15:49, Sean O'Brien wrote:
> I asked the author to release it under the GPL in an e-mail (still waiting
> for a reply), but I think we could use the code anyway.  See the license
> below.
>
> The author seems a bit confused about the GPL (which he calls the "GNU
> public license"), and his major concern seems to be "free as in beer".  Of
> the source code he says, "You are free to use the source files in any way
> you wish, as long as credit is given.", provided the software remains
> monetarily free.
>
> As far as porting it is concerned, I know very little about C.  However,
> the code seems clean and the Windows-specific sections are nicely separated
> (and should be relatively easy to alter or remove).
>
> I'll join kde-devel and drop an e-mail there, unless someone else knows a
> more specific place this should be discussed.
>
>
> Full text of license.txt:
>
> Neko 95/98 Source Code License
>
> Note: Because Neko was originally written by
> Masayuki Koba, and ported from his X-Windows
> source code by David Harvey, different portions
> of the Neko source code carry different licenses.
>
>
> IF YOU WANT TO CHARGE FOR YOUR SOFTWARE
> ---------------------------------------
> If you use any of the following files in your software,
> you MAY NOT charge for it as it is covered by the GNU
> public license:
>     Neko.h    Neko.cpp
>     Neko98.h  Neko98.cpp
>
>
> If you use any of the following files in your software,
> you MAY charge for it, but must send 20% of the profit or
> from that software, or $1000 to the author (address at the bottom).
>     Pet.h             Pe1t.cpp
>     DesktopHack.h     DesktopHack.cpp
>     DesktopPet.h      DesktopPet.cpp
>     AlwaysOnTopPet.h  AlwaysOnTopPet.cpp
>
>
> All other files can be used freely as long as credit is given.
>
>
> IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO CHARGE FOR YOUR SOFTWARE
> ----------------------------------------------
> You are free to use the source files in any way you wish,
> as long as credit is given.
>
>
> AUTHOR'S ADDRESS
> ----------------
> dharvey at btinternet.com
> For security reasons, mail me and I'll give out my address.
>
> On Monday 22 May 2006 14:51, Andreas Beckermann wrote:
> > On Monday 22 May 2006 20:36, Kleag wrote:
> > > Le Lundi 22 Mai 2006 20:22, Sean O'Brien a écrit :
> > > > I'm currently working on some more AMOR themes copied from the web
> > > > and the Windows program Neko98 (based on oneko).  I also would like
> > > > to see much of the code (or at least similar functionality) from
> > > > Neko98 ported to KDE and merged with the AMOR codebase.  I also think
> > > > it would be wise to include
> > >
> > > It seems (but I'm not a lawyer) that Neko98 is a freeware and not an
> > > open source program. So, for direct porting, there would probably be
> > > licensing issues. The same for graphics.
> >
> > I agree. See below.
> >
> > > Others, what's your opinion ?
> >
> > A short look into
> > http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Haven/4173/neko98_4.zip reveals a
> > file "license.txt" that says:
> >   This program is totally unsupported FREEWARE [...]
> >
> > So this program is freeware - but that file does not say anything else
> > about the license. This means you are allowed to copy it for free,
> > nothing more. In particular you are not allowed to modify the code and/or
> > distribute any modifications. Also you are not allowed to charge any
> > money for a copy.
> >
> > So unless there are some other statements somewhere, this program is
> > definitely incompatible with the GPL or pretty much any other open source
> > license - it simply is not free software.
> >
> > And you are certainly not allowed (unless stated otherwise by the author
> > somewhere) to use any parts of that program in your own work.
> >
> > Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer either.
> >
> > > Kleag
> >
> > CU
> > Andi
> > _______________________________________________
> > kde-games-devel mailing list
> > kde-games-devel at kde.org
> > https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-games-devel
>
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