On Fri, 2007-03-02 at 23:26 +0100, olaf wrote:
> Hi all
>
> I have created a new debian package for legends.
> (I use debian, so I could maintain the package)
> Aditionally I ve included a manpage, a menu-entry and scripts in /usr/bin to
> execute the binaries in the directory /usr/share/games/legends/ .
> Its still only hosted on http://hosted.filefront.com/0laf , but i ll try to
> upload it to mentors.debian.net.
>
> bye
> olaf
Hi Olaf,
Some time ago I was interested in packaging "Legends The Game" myself.
That was for the same upstream version. I contacted the upstream author
about copyright+license problems.
This is a part of the e-mail I wrote on 2007-01-21:
== begin quote ==
But there are still some things to fix before it can be
distributed with Debian.
The file legends_linux-0.4.1.42.run contains a few shared libraries
copyrighted by other authors and distributed with different licenses,
but this copyright and licenses information is missing in
legends_linux-0.4.1.42.run. I can work around that by removing the
shared libraries that are already in Debian.
The game uses both libSDL-1.2.so.0 and libSDL-1.3.so.0. But
libSDL-1.3.so.0 is not yet in Debian. The game seems to work with a
symlink from libSDL-1.2.so.0 to libSDL-1.3.so.0. Of course, that's a
very ugly trick. The game produces warnings about X11_KeyToUnicode, and
maybe the game can crash where it tries to use 1.3 functions. Can you
modify the game to use libSDL-1.2.so.0 only?
After removing the shared libraries mentioned above, I scanned the
remaining binaries for "copyright" notices. Here are some:
Based on Torque - Copyright (c) 2001 GarageGames.Com
Copyright (c) 2001 GarageGames.Com
Copyright (c) Dragon's Eye Entertainment
Portions Copyright (c) 2001 by Sierra Online, Inc.
That means that the copyright notice in legends_release/linux.txt is not
correct. The "Legends Development team" must not claim copyright of the
whole software if some parts are copyrighted by others.
I also scanned the binaries for licenses. One example:
The use of the Garagegames.com software product ("Software") is governed
by a license agreement (the "Agreement"). You must read and agree to the
license agreement terms BEFORE installing the Software to your hard
drive or using the Software in any way. (...) Licensor grants Licensee a
limited non-exclusive and non-transferable license (...) Licensee may
not publicly distribute, release, publish and/or transmit any Games
created hereunder or otherwise exploit the Software. (...) The license
fee is the current price indicated on the GarageGames website.
So the "Legends Development team" probably does not have the right to
give Debian permission to redistribute Legends.
== end quote ==
The upstream author gave the impression to be interested in solving
these issues, but I haven't heard back from him since 2007-01-27. I
gave up because in one of the replies the upstream author said about the
copyright and license I found in the binaries:
We are allowed to do what we are doing, I am sure - those texts
are all old.
So I doubt that Debian can redistribute this version of "Legends The
Game" in this state, not even in the non-free section.
As far as I know, there's no ITP, so you're free to go ahead without
consulting me (but you're welcome to contact me if I can help).
Regards,
Bart Martens
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