Open source ports of games and source code

[kamelito]

It seems to me that a majority of developers porting open sources games to the Amiga do not included the sources code at all while it is mandatory to do so for some licenses.
Why is that? Novacoder ports come to mind because he has done quite a few but he’s not alone far from it.
Or maybe they’re hidden in some places other than Aminet perhaps?
If you take you have to give back.
This is not to start a flame ware but I find this pretty annoying.

[alexh]

It does get me wound up a bit. I can't see any reason to keep the source code back.

Some coders do negotiate special licenses if they want to hold something back. But most don't.

Would the Aminet be liable for hosting projects which do not comply to the original open source license?

I'd want to publish the full source + development environment + build scripts etc. so my work would "live on".

[copse]

Have you asked these developers for the source code they are obliged to release by the license? Why not make a list of things that need to be resolved kept in a thread like many others here?

[alexh]

That sounds like a good idea. Some coders have GitHub pages. For example JOTD hosts all his WHDLoad slave source there if you ever need it

[kamelito]

I asked at least twice over the years but never got an answer so I gave up.
For sure Jotd is doing great by sharing even if it’s not based on open source code.

[Korodny]

Originally Posted by kamelito

do not included the sources code at all while it is mandatory to do so for some licenses.

This is not correct. The GPL does not require you to automatically distribute your sourcecode, it is sufficient to (a) make it very clear the software you're releasing is under the GPL - usually achieved by simply including the text file "COPYING" with your distribution and (b) hand out the source code to anyone who asks for it.

That said, I do agree with the sentiment of course. It would be nice if every game port release had an accompanying source code archive released at the same time.

[Korodny]

If somebody asks for sourcecode and does not get an answer, get in touch with Aminet. Not honoring source code requests would be grounds for removal, maybe Aminet pointing that out to the uploader will motivate him.

[TCD]

Maybe material for a port for beefed up Amigas? https://github.com/kevinbentley/Descent3

[derSammler]

Originally Posted by Korodny

This is not correct. The GPL does not require you to automatically distribute your sourcecode, it is sufficient to (a) make it very clear the software you're releasing is under the GPL - usually achieved by simply including the text file "COPYING" with your distribution and (b) hand out the source code to anyone who asks for it.

Did you ever read the GPL? Because you are wrong. The GPL says that you must distribute any derived work under exactly the same conditions. So if the original work was open source, any derived work must be open source, too. It's as simple as that.

Having said that, not everything is released under the GPL.

[malko]

Originally Posted by alexh

[...] so my work would "live on".

. It would as well simplify the "hunting" of missing/unreleased/lost/etc. games.
In the other hand I can understand people not wanting others to look at their code while they are still working on it.
But maybe Aminet, GitHib, other? can put in place an option to only allow the author to access the sources files and after a period of time such files are automatically visible by others. Don't know, maybe such solution already exists but is simply not used ?
Like this even in the case of an unexpected disappearance of the coder, the work would not be lost or the retrieval depend on people unaware of its existence.