Tracking down Rockfall's copyright holder.
Benjamin Cutler wrote:
Perhaps my choice of words was poor, but I think that emulators fall
into their own class of software because they rely on what is generally
commercial, non-free (and honestly, quite probably illegal) software in
order to run, which is why they fall into contrib.
I don't think relying on commercial software is objectionable. DFSG-free
software can be commercial. Relying solely on non-DFSG-free software strikes
me as a valid and reasonable objection, however.
To that end, I am currently trying to track down the copyright holders to one
Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) ROM -- Rockfall -- so that I can
justify placing any DFSG-free SNES emulators in Debian main. Rockfall is
easily found online, but none of the copies of Rockfall I've seen come with a
license and none of them contain contact information for the copyright holders
(whomever that is). If anyone reading this post knows Paul Lay or Harvey Kong
Tin (Rockfall's co-authors), please feel free to have them e-mail me. I have
another feeler out and I'll report back when I get more information.
Finally, I understand that the authors of the program may not be the copyright
holders (work for hire clause, for instance), but one must start somewhere.
Thanks.
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