Many people have expressed problems with the original proposal.
I'd like to add requiring the "complete source code" be
distributed means software producers can't have any proprietary
components in the code. Even if you kept your art work and
story elements in separate files, there could (and likely will)
be a lot of code that has nothing to do with OGL content.
While I agree with Brad's suggestion, I do not agree with the
argument.
>The reason this is bad is that it pretty much precludes the use of
>high-level tools for creating software. It especially precludes the use of
>rapid-development tools such as Visual Basic, Powerbuilder, Delphi, etc...,
>which have in their heart a copyrighted runtime library which must be
>present on the machine in order to run. It also precludes the use of
>commercial software components such as TCP/IP socket libraries, COM
>controls, and Java packages.
I do not use VB or Delphi but I believe one can separate their
"source code" from the proprietary runtime libraries. GPL'd
.pas (or whatever the extension is) files is what people want
to see. People can buy VB or Delphi themselves, if they want
to change your source and compile it. Proprietary libraries
can and often are used to develop GPL'd programs. A common
example is GPL'd applications that use Motif (which is no
where close to GPL even after the recent announcements).
>"If the publication you are distributing includes software that contains
>Open Game Content, a complete copy of all such Open Content must be
>distributed with that software in a separate, human-readable form."
1) A software producer could say, "I implemented the SRD
exactly. Here is my binary and a print out of the SRD."
Instead of "human-readable", I think people want the
"machine-readable source code" as used in the GPL.
2) A software producer could say, "Here is my SRD.java
but you can't use it." You should specify what license
applies to the "readable" stuff that must be distributed
with the software.
3) A software producer could choose not to distribute
anything but rather sell you time on their server which
runs a variety of software or sell you an account for
their online gaming service.
