[MUD-Dev] GPL (was:Libs for 3D Client/Servers)

[Bobby Martin]

Max wrote:
> ghovs wrote:

>> I've actually heard of people releasing stuff under GPL for
>> non-profit use, and allowing anyone planning something else to
>> negotiate a commercial license.

> You can't do that with GPL. If you're releasing code under GPL you
> grant certain rights to all other parties without difference if
> they are non-profit users or companies. You can require payment
> for your source code but since whoever would buy it could
> distribute it without limits it's pointless.

This is not true.  There is benefit to being able to re-release under a 
different license code that you have released under the GPL.

Assume I run Fantastic Adventures, a company that produces a commercial 
MMORPG.  I see the need for an easy to use messaging system that is fast and 
has low throughput for client to server communications.  I see ARMI 
(shameless plug), a GPL SourceForge project to do just that.  I can't use 
the GPL code in my client, since I want to release the client without 
releasing the source code.  However, if I can contact all of the owners of 
the copyright on ARMI, I can negotiate the same code under a different 
license which would allow me to use it in my product without making my 
product open source.  Thus, I pay those copyright holders and obtain the 
code under a license that lets me do whatever I want with it.

Bobby Martin
Cosm Development Team

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