[DGD] Software Licenses

[Felix A. Croes]

Noah Lee Gibbs <angelbob at monkeyspeak.com> wrote:

>   This is something I've been pondering for awhile.  I'm curious what
> other people think (valid responses would include:  "I think this is
> off-topic and should be discussed elsewhere).  I'm mostly curious what
> software licensing people think would be best for growing the DGD
> community.  As a secondary effect, I'd love to use a license that makes
> mine the most popular DGD MUDLib ever :-P

How about finishing and releasing it, first :)

This is definitely on-topic.


>   DGD itself is available only for noncommercial use unless the
> potential commercial user purchases an expensive license.  Should
> freely-available libs then basically mandate noncommercial use?  Having
> every library be free for noncommercial use but require contacting the
> author for commercial use turns any attempt to use DGD commercially into a
> "build it yourself" endeavor or a minefield, so it comes out the same
> either way, really.  The alternative would be to have the MUDLibs allow
> commercial use so only a DGD server license would be necessary.  But would
> that bother hobbyist developers?

It is quite normal for companies to be using software components with
different licenses.  I see no objection to anyone writing a commercially
usable mudlib, as long as they keep in mind that anyone who can afford
an expensive commercial license can probably also afford to write a
basic mudlib, especially if starting with the kernel library.  You have
to be as confident about your mudlib as I am of selling expensive DGD
licenses.

(Note that the kernel library is in the public domain, so it can be
integrated into a mudlib without any license conflicts.)


>   On a related topic, the GPL and similar Open Source licenses are a poor
> fit for MUDs since there are so few people that use the binaries.  For a
> true Open Source style license for MUDs, should every MUD user have to be
> able to get a copy of the MUDLib source, like CthulhuMUD does?  The server
> source, naturally, is already available.

This isn't quite correct.  The source for DGD is available, and may be
distributed, but a real Open Source license requires no restrictions on
commercial use.

Regards,
Dworkin
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