Pletter and licence

Paladin (802)

24-09-2022, 12:59

Credit where credit's due!

Legal text isn't always too easy I think. This is the MIT-licence.

Question is whether I need to include the below text in either the ROM file (as "presented text", or just as "part of the rom" (you would need to investigate the ROM to see it)?) or in a accompanying file, when I only use the unpack-code supplied (and not the rest).

The reason I ask is that I wonder if the unpack-code is "substantial portions of the Software" (where Software is stated to be the work originally by Team Bomba on which pletter somehow is based on).

Stating that one is using pletter is easy, but having this FULL text presentable inside an MSX-ROM is a bit big and "clunky", and I don't think I have seen that before.

(BTW: I have sent an email to XL2S Entertainment, but no answer).

Quote:

Pletter v0.5b - XL2S Entertainment 2008

Have fun with it, just do not harm anyone

Keep in mind pletter is based on software with the following license:

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

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Par aoineko

Paragon (1136)

24-09-2022, 14:50

In the modern video game industry, the full licenses text of the used third-party libraries are not included in the final game data.
Most of the time, a mention in the credits specifying the authors and the license is enough (some require splash screens at game launch).
I'm not saying it's an absolute rule, but it's the standard practice nowadays.

In your case, the best thing would obviously be to have the Team Bomba's opinion.

Par Bengalack

Paladin (802)

24-09-2022, 17:36

Thanks! -Well, from what I can see, this is the MIT licence. And from what I read (about this particular licence), is that you can do almost anything with this code, except remove the text. It does not say how to include the text, just that it needs to be included. It also seems like the text mainly protects the authors from any liability in derative works.

A simple way to include it, if you don't want it in the rom file (as you say aoineko: this is not common practise) is to put it in a file bundled with your rom. For example in a manual. To me, this seems like the right thing to do.

I actually tried to put this text inside Lilly's Saga. But it came out ... a bit weird, breaking the style, massive and "clunky".

Par sdsnatcher73

Enlighted (4292)

24-09-2022, 19:43

I would add a license.txt file inside the zip where you distribute it. There you can add all licenses for any reused code.

Par Arjan

Paladin (787)

25-09-2022, 11:21

Heya, I'm the author of the software that Pletter was based on. Bitbuster is quite obsolete now, I don't mind if it's being used without including the license in the rom/package.

Pletter is based on Bitbuster, but I think they only used the data format (with a few additions). The packer/unpacker looks quite different, I wouldn't consider it being based on my code.

Par Bengalack

Paladin (802)

25-09-2022, 12:27

Arjan wrote:

Heya, I'm the author of the software that Pletter was based on. Bitbuster is quite obsolete now, I don't mind if it's being used without including the license in the rom/package.

Pletter is based on Bitbuster, but I think they only used the data format (with a few additions). The packer/unpacker looks quite different, I wouldn't consider it being based on my code.

Thanks for letting us know Arjan!