Questions about packages because of license and other

Questions about packages because of license and other

[Christian Miller]

Hi,

1. PrismLauncher[0]: The software itself is licensed as GPL3 but it is
used to download and launch a proprietary videogame called
"Minecraft".  Since it is itself GPL3 licensed but used for a
proprietary videogame, would it be allowed for upstream or not?

2: PCSX2[1]: Software itself is licensed as GPL3 but is used to
emulate a PlayStation 2 (game console), which is highly proprietary
hardware.  It is also wishlisted on libreplanet[2].  It requires the
original proprietary BIOS (not distributed by the software) to run.
Since it is a game console, it also requires proprietary video games
(not distributed by the software).

3. impatient-mode[3]: This is an Emacs mode to write HTML and see it
in realtime rendered in the web browser.  It has no license file.  In
the file "impatient-mode.el" it says "This is free and unencumbered
software released into the public domain.".  Is this suitable for an
upstream package?  It looks to me not correctly licensed but I am also
not an expert in this and therefore unsure.

PrismLauncher works but does not show images from the instance.

PCSX2 works but does not show icons.

Imaptient-mode is done.

Since it is better to push as much as possible upstream, would they
met the requirements or not?

[0] https://github.com/PrismLauncher/PrismLauncher
[1] https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2
[2] https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Guix/Wishlist#Emulation
[3] https://github.com/skeeto/impatient-mode
-- 
Christian Miller

Re: Questions about packages because of license and other

[Andreas Enge]

Hello Christian,

Am Wed, Dec 06, 2023 at 09:36:06PM +0100 schrieb Christian Miller:
> 1. PrismLauncher[0]: The software itself is licensed as GPL3 but it is
> used to download and launch a proprietary videogame called
> "Minecraft".  Since it is itself GPL3 licensed but used for a
> proprietary videogame, would it be allowed for upstream or not?
> 
> 2: PCSX2[1]: Software itself is licensed as GPL3 but is used to
> emulate a PlayStation 2 (game console), which is highly proprietary
> hardware.  It is also wishlisted on libreplanet[2].  It requires the
> original proprietary BIOS (not distributed by the software) to run.
> Since it is a game console, it also requires proprietary video games
> (not distributed by the software).

since we do not advertise non-free software and do not encourage users
to install it, these two are not suitable for inclusion into Guix.

> 3. impatient-mode[3]: This is an Emacs mode to write HTML and see it
> in realtime rendered in the web browser.  It has no license file.  In
> the file "impatient-mode.el" it says "This is free and unencumbered
> software released into the public domain.".  Is this suitable for an
> upstream package?  It looks to me not correctly licensed but I am also
> not an expert in this and therefore unsure.

This looks okay, we have a license:public-domain.

Andreas

Re: Questions about packages because of license and other

[Felix Lechner via Development of GNU Guix and the GNU System distribution.]

Hi Christian,

On Wed, Dec 06 2023, Christian Miller wrote:

> [0] https://github.com/PrismLauncher/PrismLauncher
> [1] https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2

Those two might be more suitable for a private channel, or perhaps for
nonguix.

> [3] https://github.com/skeeto/impatient-mode

This one seems okay but it's not in the public domain unless the
packager splits off the file jquery.js, which is "Dual licensed under
the MIT or GPL Version 2 licenses."

Also, there are other options for real-time rendering of HTML. [1]

I have no legal training or experience. Please do not rely on what I
wrote.

Thanks for contributing to Guix!

Kind regards
Felix

[1] https://emacs.stackexchange.com/a/32434

Re: Questions about packages because of license and other

[Ada Stevenson]

Hi,

On 12/6/23 8:36 PM, Christian Miller wrote:
> Hi,
>
> 1. PrismLauncher[0]: The software itself is licensed as GPL3 but it is
> used to download and launch a proprietary videogame called
> "Minecraft".  Since it is itself GPL3 licensed but used for a
> proprietary videogame, would it be allowed for upstream or not?

This is already included in the Guix-Gaming[1] channel.

>
> 2: PCSX2[1]: Software itself is licensed as GPL3 but is used to
> emulate a PlayStation 2 (game console), which is highly proprietary
> hardware.  It is also wishlisted on libreplanet[2].  It requires the
> original proprietary BIOS (not distributed by the software) to run.
> Since it is a game console, it also requires proprietary video games
> (not distributed by the software).
For these gaming related packages that require non-free software, 
perhaps it might be a good idea to contribute to Guix-Gaming[1] instead, 
rather than upstream.
>
> 3. impatient-mode[3]: This is an Emacs mode to write HTML and see it
> in realtime rendered in the web browser.  It has no license file.  In
> the file "impatient-mode.el" it says "This is free and unencumbered
> software released into the public domain.".  Is this suitable for an
> upstream package?  It looks to me not correctly licensed but I am also
> not an expert in this and therefore unsure.
Public domain would be suitable for inclusion, though.
>
> PrismLauncher works but does not show images from the instance.
>
> PCSX2 works but does not show icons.
>
> Imaptient-mode is done.
>
> Since it is better to push as much as possible upstream, would they
> met the requirements or not?
>
> [0] https://github.com/PrismLauncher/PrismLauncher
> [1] https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2
> [2] https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Guix/Wishlist#Emulation
> [3] https://github.com/skeeto/impatient-mode
[1] https://gitlab.com/guix-gaming-channels/games

Thanks,

Ada (adanksa)

Re: Questions about packages because of license and other

[Christian Miller]

Thanks for the feedback.

-- 
Christian Miller