[MUD-Dev] Source Code Release

[Chris Gray]

[KaVir:]

:Greg Munt wrote:
:> This is something I've wanted to post on, for a number of weeks. My own
:> project will be shoving out all of the development docs onto the web:
:> specification, design, testing, etc. Shoving out the source code would be
:> a natural extension of this. BUT.
:>
:> I am wary of what will happen to my code - what it will be used to create
:> - once I have made it available to the general public.

[Similar thoughts about releasing source code.]

:Opinions please?

I can only echo the sentiments you both have. The one big project that I
did, and released the source to, was a rewrite of the old Peter Langston
"Empire" game. Since it was an Amiga program, there was a lot less
possibility of problems than if it was a Windows or UNIX program. However,
one fellow took the sources and made a lot of changes. Some were good,
and I later did similar things. He made one big change to the cache-
flushing policy in the server, however, which I specifically said was a
bad idea. The net result: people blaming me for data loss in his version.

So, I've often said that I won't release the main source to a big project
unless I am personally no longer interested in that project. With AmigaMUD,
however, I've had a middle-of-the-road answer: I haven't released the
source to the server or the hardcoded custom client, but I do release
the source to the scenario. Since most of the things that most people
want to play with are in the scenario (the world, how combat works, how
quests work, etc.), that works out not too bad.

--
Chris Gray   cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA