On Fri, Jun 11, 2021 at 1:59 PM Robert Riebisch <r...@bttr-software.de> wrote: > > Hi Eric, >[..] > > I also recommend to include MPXPLAY, the versatile media > > player with support for modern sound cards, in FreeDOS! > > +1 > > mpxplay.c says: > ### > This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, > but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of > MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. > Please contact with the author (with me) if you want to use > or modify this source. > ### > > Not free enough? >
Ouch. "Contact me if you want to use or modify" the source code is not very "open source." If you were a hobby developer, you would need to contact the author and request permission to experiment with the source code. The author would probably grant permission for a hobby developer - assuming the author is responding to email (for example, hasn't changed email addresses, etc). Would the author grant permission if a company (even a small company) wanted to modify mpxplay to add some neat feature, with the intention to re-release their patches & updated source code for others to use? As written, it's unclear if this allowed others to share or redistribute the source code. "Ask permission to use" suggests that redistributing the source code requires permission. It would be better for mpxplay to use an accepted, recognized "open source" license like the MIT license or Apache license. As an aside, we don't list this on the FreeDOS 1.3 "Packages" list, and it's not included in FreeDOS 1.3 RC4 either: http://wiki.freedos.org/wiki/index.php/Releases/1.3/Packages#Sound _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
