Nostalrius/MaNGOS/GPL

[Hobospices]

One big obstacle to this that I can see is that the MaNGOS emulator is under the GNU Public License (GPL), the terms of which specify that all code changes released publicly must also be released as source code under the GPL.

So they just don't release it publicly? I don't know much about the GPL, but that seems like the most logical thing based on your own statement.

Raises an interesting point. The AGPL covers “interacting with [the software] remotely through a computer network”. The FAQ for the AGPL specifically mentions "servers for games that are played online".

But looking at the MaNGOS GIT repository, it seems the MaNGOS code is only covered by GPLv2, not the AGPL. Maybe theluda can clarify?

I don't know if that would satisfy Blizzard, though - among other things they will probably want to modify the code to provide for automatic updates of the client.

[Tebeda]

the lost code is simply this:

up, up, down,down,left, right, left, right, B, A, Start.

[Uidrae]

Nobody is under any ethical obligation to do anything just because they in part begin from your "original" work

You are right, it is not an ethical obligation. In fact it is a legal obligation which already has been proven in court. And it is simply demands to release any work based on it.

ahahaha you fucking turd you're nothing more than a second rate blizz legal team hero. i'm so happy your code is being "stolen" left and right

What if GNU hosted a central repository where all GPL code could be uploaded, sorted, compared, and searched through a carefully metatagged database. Nope, it's just some fakey internet tough guy there to demand that you owe us a big fat debt if you come anywhere near touching our digital "things".

That's really not fair. Perhaps he's not going about this in the best way, but everyone wants to be recognized for their work.

[mozibake]

I think a lot of you don't understand just what it is that luda is asking for. It's not even about being recognized for his work, it's about Nostalrius honoring the terms of the GPL which they agreed to and became legally bound by when they began using MaNGOS. According to the GPL they legally MUST release the modifications they've made, while Blizzard is likely pressuring them not to release ANYTHING. It's quite a tight spot, for sure, but they'll have to choose.

[Belzemuth]

As a software developer myself I can assure you that the "lost code" statement is complete bullshit

That was their easy way to say, no vanilla!

[theluda]

I'm not really asking for recognition or anything. All I am trying hard to express - while being very emotional about this as I worked on shit for ten years - is that Nostalrius honors the work done by MaNGOS on which their work is based, and give back something to the community. And yes, that would be all of you. Because if Nostalrius gives nothing back and gets closed down for whatever reasons, again you the community will be at loss.

Need I remind you that most of you have seen this with every closing private server? Every fix made was lost because it was not given back to MaNGOS.

Another aspect to this is the fact that Nostalrius team is riding very high on the morale grounds but not giving something back to the community is IMHO the very opposite of doing something good for everyone of you.

In the end you can flame me all you want. All I am trying to do is to ensure that whatever comes out of this, it will be no loss for the vanilla community because either you get official vanilla servers or you get a better MaNGOS with Nostalrius fixes added for everyone. That is what I am talking about.

[taurapo]

I'm pretty sure the Nostalrius devs are under no obligation to release their modifications to mangos as long as they don't distribute any binaries.

This is pretty much the reason the Affero GPL license was created.

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-affero-gpl.en.html

[Noxm]

Mark Kern : I'll mention the dedicated work that fans have put in to see vanilla WoW, including the MaNGOS team and @NostalBegins

Source :
https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/726416227816476673

[Docholy]

Mango's team needs to find a way to get all these private servers updated code and bug fixes in one comprehensive temple. Its not cool the codes have been refined by individual servers and they never updated mangos. It was suppose to be a continuously communal improvement project.

[theluda]

I'm pretty sure the Nostalrius devs are under no obligation to release their modifications to mangos as long as they don't distribute any binaries.

And that I did not write if you look closely. And if you want to be so precise, GPL just gives them the usage rights but not the copyrights. So unless they remove our code, we still have some rights. But again. Not the point, as mentioned above my statement merely was aimed at: give back something to the community.

And that includes every Nostalrius player too. After all no-one had complaints when MaNGOS features such as Warden support arrived on Nostalrius.