Why GPL

SDL Development
1

“SDL is itself LGPL, and the portion you need
to link in a manner the LGPL does not permit for a
prorietary program (which I am betting are the type
you write) happens to be public domain for the
purpose.”

So you are saying you CANT sell a game if you make it
with SDL. what about all the games people ARE selling
that WERE made with SDL? Are they also theiving
criminals? Are they giving out all their games source
code? If so Im going to start d/ling right now!

“we all benefit because it means more commercial
software should then come with the source code”

Listen to yourself, thats so contradictive, how can a
commercial as in PAY for it game be open source?! Like
nobody will be trading it around and compiling it. You
cant really expect to make money off something you are
giving away!

“Sounds to me like you want the right to use other
people’s work without
compensation. If I steal your work, will you not be
angry?”

I dont see why people try calling me a criminal, if I
spend months making a game and I happen to use a GPLed
.TGA loading function, a format which is well
documented and a function which I probably couldve
wrote myself, how is that fair to ME when I cant sell
it, and have to release all my source? Do we have to
write the same .TGA loader a million different times
to avoid GPL license problems?

And Id let people have the source to my stupid
repetetive everyday functions and use them any way
they want because I believe in free commercial
software development, and I think its stupid to force
people to rewrite the same things, since we all have
to do it anyway.

I compare it to writing a book. You buy a pencil and
paper that are already set for you to draw with. Now
should you have to go out and chop down trees and
somehow figure out how to make lead, paper, the
eraser, etc in order to write a book? HELL NO! we
dont have to do that, so why should we have to when it
comes to making a program? And you can sell the book
you wrote without any royalties to the pencil or paper
maker.

OK so why are some people telling me you CAN sell
games made with GPL code, and that they are in fact
doing do, when some people say you definatly cant and
are a crook if you do??!?! jeez this legal crap is
annoying.
also how can you ever claim to have wrote your own
functions if everything has already been GPLed?!
And how can you expect to learn things without seeing
GPL code? Sounds like a way to force everyone into
giving out their game source… ex.) “hey, that must be
my .TGA loading routine- Im suing unless you release
the source! >=|”__________________________________________________
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2

“SDL is itself LGPL, and the portion you need
to link in a manner the LGPL does not permit for a
prorietary program (which I am betting are the type
you write) happens to be public domain for the
purpose.”

So you are saying you CANT sell a game if you make it
with SDL. what about all the games people ARE selling
that WERE made with SDL? Are they also theiving
criminals? Are they giving out all their games source
code? If so Im going to start d/ling right now!

Nah, if you link with SDL dynamically you’re perfectly free to make a
commercial game based on it.

The reason that’s done is for 2 reasons. (1) it verifies that your game
uses the SDL “as is”, and that you conform to the LGPL, and (2) allows the
people who run your game to be able to benefit from bugfixes in SDL without
having to
request that you recompile your game.

It’s all good, man!

3

| "SDL is itself LGPL, and the portion you need

Will you please stop trolling this mailing list.

Go whine at RMS instead.On Fri, Apr 19, 2002 at 10:49:31AM -0700, Jason Robertson wrote:

–
Organ transplants are best left to professionals

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4

On Fri, 19 Apr 2002 10:49:31 -0700 (PDT), Jason Robertson scribbled:

Look, if you’re going to complain, at least take the time to
understand what it is you’re complaining about. Read the licenses.

GPL says, basically, “if you use this source code in a program you
write, you have to make that program available in source form.”

It doesn’t say you can’t sell it. Just that you have to let others
have your source.

Now I, for one, don’t want to write code under that restriction. So I
don’t use GPL’d code in my projects. Is there some piece of code like
a TGA reader that I’d like to use? TOO DAMN BAD. If you don’t want to
pay the price, don’t use the code.

You can BUY any of a half dozen TGA file reader libraries out there,
source included. GPL is just a different form of currency.

LGPL, on the other hand, provides a way for people to write code that
is available in source form but usable as compiled libraries. The
license just restricts your ability to re-release those libraries –
if you do that, you have to release the source. But you can USE the
libraries just fine.

So I’m using SDL to make a game. It’s a bit of a pain, because while
I’d like to statically link the libraries, at least under Windows, I
can’t. I have to dynamically link them. Poor me.

If I don’t like it, I can go buy some libraries with real cash money.
Or use DirectX. Or write my own code.

SDL isn’t “free” – it requires me to do some work to use it. But
it’s cheaper than the alternatives I’ve found.

TANSTAAFL – There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch–
Kent Quirk, CTO, CogniToy
@Kent_Quirk
http://www.cognitoy.com

5

I beleive you CAN statically link to SDL, as long as you make .o versions
of your game itself available to be re-linked against other versions of
SDL.

-bill!On Fri, Apr 19, 2002 at 02:25:21PM -0400, Kent Quirk wrote:

So I’m using SDL to make a game. It’s a bit of a pain, because while
I’d like to statically link the libraries, at least under Windows, I
can’t. I have to dynamically link them. Poor me.

6

"LGPL’ed libraries are free to use in commercial
software, and by using the library you don’t have to
release your code
that
uses the library. "

cool

"Nah, if you link with SDL dynamically you’re
perfectly free to make a
commercial game based on it.

The reason that’s done is for 2 reasons. (1) it
verifies that your
game
uses the SDL “as is”, and that you conform to the
LGPL, and (2) allows
the
people who run your game to be able to benefit from
bugfixes in SDL
without
having to
request that you recompile your game.

It’s all good, man!"

thats what I wanted to hear!

OK ppl thanx for clearing it up for me, Ill shut up
now ;)__________________________________________________
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7

| On Fri, Apr 19, 2002 at 02:25:21PM -0400, Kent Quirk wrote:
| >
| > So I’m using SDL to make a game. It’s a bit of a pain, because while
| > I’d like to statically link the libraries, at least under Windows, I
| > can’t. I have to dynamically link them. Poor me.
|
| I beleive you CAN statically link to SDL, as long as you make .o versions
| of your game itself available to be re-linked against other versions of
| SDL.

Which is good because then you can upgrade SDL if there’s bugfixes, etc
and the program just needs relinking to take advantage - you don’t have
to wait for the person who made the binaries to compile it for you.

Less maintenance for the programmers, more flexibility for the users.On Fri, Apr 19, 2002 at 11:54:04AM -0700, nbs wrote:

–
Five days is not too long to wait for a gun

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