Kenn Hoekstra On H/H Source

It's nice to see the Raven people taking an interest. This is useless though. They aren't giving us a clear statement of what the code can be used for. "The Heretic/Hexen source code is public domain now." - public domain is a legal term which means there are *no* restrictions. "The licensing agreement was meant to be a safety net to use in case someone tried to make a game with the Heretic and Hexen code and then sell it/publish it without the permission of Raven, GT, Id and/or Activision....The only way that we'll step in with our legal guys is if someone is selling the product, charging for the distribution of the source code or a resulting product, taking credit for the code or otherwise misusing the code or its product for financial or material gain." - They don't allow for-profit use. So which is it guys? If it's the former great, but please issue a clear, unambigous statement to this effect! If it's the latter, then that's still better than the actual license that was given out, but please issue a clear unambigous statement saying the exact conditions! This would still not be GPL compatible, so GPL ports could still not use Hexen/Heretic code.

Mr. Hoekstra, the Doom source was released using the GPL on Oct.3, 1999, and I don't think we've seen any unsavoury uses of it yet. Linux is probably the most famous example of the GPL in action. If the GPL is good enough for the Linux source code, isn't it good enough for the Heretic/Hexen source code? On a side note, I don't think its "public domain", as *i think* this would mean that there were no license restrictions.

I just got a reply to my email query. He confirms that he did not mean public domain. You can't make a profit off the heretic/hexen sources. So you can't use it in GPL Doom ports. People who fancy their luck at talking a bunch of lawyers into letting them use the hexen source without this painful restriction should try emailing mcrowns@ravensoft.com apparently. Or, just go for one of the engines out there that already has GPl'd support for many of the heretic/hexen features (DUMB, xdoom, maybe others)

mewses site (which is on my box) got slashdotted but my machine and connection survived it fine

Dear all, As you all might know software patents are a threat to the Open Source movement. Now the European Community is about to bring out a law which makes software patentable. THIS MUST NOT HAPPEN! Please follow the link below and sign the petition against SW patents. I do not want to imagine what happens when programmers of free software are no more able to use specific protocols which have been introduced by companies into the market and patented. In fact, this has already happened in the US to a guy which has been writing a free media player. He has been contacted by Micro$oft to remove the usage of a format which they have a patent on. Spread the word! Put it on the newpages, post it on the forums. Send out emails to all your friends! And of course, please fill in the form: http://petition.eurolinux.org If we put this news, it's also because DOOM ports are directly concerned by this

guys, read that article again. theres something inconsistent in there.......

Caleb: god forbid you mention the source of the inconsistency you speak of

Legal terms are for lawyers anyway. We can use Hexen/Heretic codes for our stuff if we don't sell it or appropriate it. I have no (meaningless) complaints. After all... bah!

Oh no, Europe might start respecting intellectual property rights! People might *gasp* have full control of their own property! We must stop this, so we can continue to leech in our own twisted pseudo-communist philosophy! End sarcasm.

you are an ignorant moron. get a clue about what you're talking about before you start spouting garbage like that.

Please read up on GPL and such- you are showing your own ignorance with ineffective sarcasm.

<sarcasm> If you think so, I wish John Carmack had patented the wad file format and sued everyone making custom wads </sarcasm> *cough*

jon, fraggle, you're opposed to the new law? I just want a European's take on it, it seemed like unnecessary spamming of the comments to me..

I actually feel sorry for Rick since he probably has received at least a thousand requests to finish up Hexenworld or to finish the net code.

Kenn Hoekstra wrote "Hey, The Heretic/Hexen source code is public domain now.", and then "we'll step in with our legal guys [...] if someone is selling the product, charging for the distribution of the source code [...]" These two statements are contradictory. If it's public domain, you can't sue. I'm greatful to Raven for releasing the source code, but please don't say things like "it's public domain now" when it isn't true and/or when it is not what you mean. I'm not accusing you of lying but I'm definitely accusing you of being confused. :-)

The previous post, that begun with "Kenn Hoekstra wrote" was not meant to be anonymous. I (André Majorel) wrote it, but I must have goofed.