OpenSource & Torque
by Prairie Games · in General Discussion · 08/20/2002 (2:29 am) · 24 replies
Has there been any thought applied to OpenSourcing Torque?
Whereby, an application using Torque noncommercially must redistribute it's sources... while for commercial use, arrangements with GarageGames being necessary... something like how MySQL handles it...
Torque's quality and extensibility would serve as a common framework across many domains... commercial usage of the technology is manifest...
I guess it comes down to weighing the loss of some (ok, most) source access fees and having the world develop with Torque...
The implications for the Garage Games community are staggering. There could be things I am unaware of... but this _really_ seems the way to go.
Vibes,
-J
Whereby, an application using Torque noncommercially must redistribute it's sources... while for commercial use, arrangements with GarageGames being necessary... something like how MySQL handles it...
Torque's quality and extensibility would serve as a common framework across many domains... commercial usage of the technology is manifest...
I guess it comes down to weighing the loss of some (ok, most) source access fees and having the world develop with Torque...
The implications for the Garage Games community are staggering. There could be things I am unaware of... but this _really_ seems the way to go.
Vibes,
-J
#22
08/20/2002 (9:25 pm)
Eric, I think you might have gotten confused. There's a "Josh" asking questions and me, a "Joshua" trying to answer. ;)
#24
You can link Torque to LGPL libraries right now. In fact, OpenAL (as pointed out above) is LGPL. What the LGPL states, in short, is you can link it to anything but any changes you make to the part that is LGPLed (OpenAL) must also be covered by the LGPL and thus be 'Free'/OSS software. Changes you make to the code that *uses* the LGPLed library, though, can be open or closed, it doesn't matter, as long as they aren't part of the module that is LGPLed.
The GPL is an entirely different matter. You can't link GPL code into Torque, period. The GPL states that any code you link to it (even if it is outside the scope of the code in question), must also be GPL code. Since you have no legal right to make parts of Torque GPL, you just aren't allowed to link a GPLed lib with Torque. It is a copyright violation and you risk being sued by the various parties involved (GG, the FSF, whoever owns the copyright on the GPLed code in question).
Having said all that, I don't think there's a lot of real benefit to making Torque fully Open Source. People who put software politics above getting a specific technical job done can go use Crystal Space or whatever other Open Source engine they'd like, or create their own. I certainly could do without all of the rabid anti-corporation (specifically Microsoft) trolling that would result here on GG if the Open Source hordes came a-knocking.
08/21/2002 (12:15 pm)
Just to be clear, because there's a bit of vague and/or misleading information above:You can link Torque to LGPL libraries right now. In fact, OpenAL (as pointed out above) is LGPL. What the LGPL states, in short, is you can link it to anything but any changes you make to the part that is LGPLed (OpenAL) must also be covered by the LGPL and thus be 'Free'/OSS software. Changes you make to the code that *uses* the LGPLed library, though, can be open or closed, it doesn't matter, as long as they aren't part of the module that is LGPLed.
The GPL is an entirely different matter. You can't link GPL code into Torque, period. The GPL states that any code you link to it (even if it is outside the scope of the code in question), must also be GPL code. Since you have no legal right to make parts of Torque GPL, you just aren't allowed to link a GPLed lib with Torque. It is a copyright violation and you risk being sued by the various parties involved (GG, the FSF, whoever owns the copyright on the GPLed code in question).
Having said all that, I don't think there's a lot of real benefit to making Torque fully Open Source. People who put software politics above getting a specific technical job done can go use Crystal Space or whatever other Open Source engine they'd like, or create their own. I certainly could do without all of the rabid anti-corporation (specifically Microsoft) trolling that would result here on GG if the Open Source hordes came a-knocking.
Torque 3D Owner Eric Forhan