Nexuiz Founder Licenses It For Non-GPL Use 246
King InuYasha writes "Nexuiz founder Lee Vermuelen, along with several other core developers, have licensed the Nexuiz name, Nexuiz.com domain, and DarkPlaces engine to Illfonic in a deal to get Nexuiz on consoles. However, the kink is that the engine has been licensed for non-GPL usage. That is, Illfonic has no intention of contributing their code back to the main GPL Nexuiz project. As a result, Nexuiz has been forked into a new project called Xonotic. While the main Nexuiz site doesn't mention that Illfonic has no intention of contributing back, the Xonotic project FAQ explains what's going on. Additionally, the Xonotic project states that Illfonic 'may be in violation of the GPL as most contributors to the Nexuiz codebase have not relicensed their work for inclusion in a closed-source project.'"
Re:Freedom (Score:1, Funny)
someone grab your mod points and apply directly to the headkase.
Name (Score:1, Funny)
Glad to see they're keeping the convention of hard-to-pronounce sci-fi names.
Re:You must have an different definition of freedo (Score:5, Funny)
And there you have it folks, tyranny is freedom! Without the freedom to establish tyranny, nobody is free.
(I know, I know - don't feed the BSD trolling)
Re:Freedom (Score:3, Funny)
Do youself a favor and use a license for your code that actually does have an open spirit rather than a built in virus.
Exactly! If this project had only been BSD licensed, the developer could have just walked away with the code and never contributed anything back. Or heck - anyone could. Businesses should take note. Develop with BSD licenses so your competitors get your work for free! That's obviously the best way to do things and avoids all this "virus" GPL stuff.
Re:You must have an different definition of freedo (Score:3, Funny)
Because your freedom seems to come with restrictions.
Tell me about this land that you come from.
It would appear to be a place without laws.
Re:Freedom (Score:3, Funny)
If you want to be 'safe' in your limited definition, simply require that all contributions that you accept into the 'primary fork' that you maintain be accompanied by a copyrights assignment to you or your company so that you can legally re-license those contributions. It's not rocket science, you don't own the code that other people contribute anymore than they 'own' the code you've contributed. You are perfectly within your rights to re-license your own code just as they are perfectly within their rights to refuse you permission to do the same with theirs.
Re:Interested in seeing where this goes (Score:3, Funny)
Would that be GPL popcorn or the re-licensed popcorn?
(See above conversation thread if this zips by you.)
Re:Interested in seeing where this goes (Score:4, Funny)
GPL exists to encourage code re-use, so the obvious, and unfortunate, conclusion of this line of thought involves one cup and 2 girls.
Re:You must have an different definition of freedo (Score:3, Funny)
You are confusing freedom and sovereignty, as no doubt are others in this discussion.
Wait a minute. I thought this was an anarcho-syndicalist commune!