BY: sauce
DATE: 2004-Feb-02 07:42
SUBJECT: RE: The license issueWell...
I don't mind it so much being distributed in binary form as a method to ship a self-contained package to be dropped on the memory card.
On the other hand, I do mind it being used as a template for other memory-card based games.
Just a couple of words about the motivation: the kernel module was really designed so that you have only one version of it running on your system. Ideally, I'd strive to make it as backward-compatible as possible, so the one version you have is the most recent one.
I was concerned that by packaging binaries with games we'd end up with stale/old versions of the module out there and a situation where downloading the game and following its install directions may not necessarily be the right thing to do. (because you may have a more recent module on your system). On top of that, some of the "features" I may need to resort to with sps2 could bind it specifically to the kernel running on your system, so someone else's binary would be no good (sps2 currently doesn't need to resort to that but gsvnc, for instance, does).
Developers can appreciate some of these points, but users who aren't familiar with the intricacies of development and version conflicts may not; I had them in mind.
Having said all that, some of these arguments are not extremely relevant if everything is packaged together -- game, kernel and the sps2 module (so the compatibility issue is moot), and not permanently installed on the system (so the stale versions floating around issue is moot).
I'd be more comfortable saying "yes" if mrm is willing to post a little disclaimer in his distribution explaining that it's being shipped as one package and not really intended for modification, as well as a how-to to create your own such package, or, if he'd like, creating 90% of an image (minus sps2) for developers to grab with brief instructions on how to get the most recent version of sps2 on the image. This will assure that if a developer grabs this image or these instructions six months later, they will be able to work with the latest & greatest version of sps2 -- not the one that is dated today.
Before I give a firm yes or no, I'm welcome to comments. This is an interesting situation and certainly worth discussing.
Sauce |
SPS2UScreenInit() requirements; memcard-linux