Except that, in the case of source code, if I used even a single line of source code licensed under the GPL, all of the source code in my project would be required to be under the GPL. Because the FSF has not clarified and hasn't really given a good answer yet (I've talked to them directly about this a few times), it stands to reason that art resources that are licensed under the GPL would at least require all the other art for a project to be released under the same license if not the entire project, source code included.
In other words, the GPL is so broadly, ambiguously (read: badly) defined that art released under the GPL is only really useable in projects that are also under the GPL. At least, it is for those who aren't afraid to deal with the potential legal consequences...
I personally would much rather not deal with potential legal issues over an image or a sound piece or a sprite so I just ignore really great artwork that's unfortunate enough to be under a GPL.
Plain and simply, by licensing artwork and other non-software content under the GPL, you're limiting your work to GPL only projects. Not everybody likes the GPL and many, like myself, choose other much less restrictive licneses like the BSD, MIT or ZLib/PNG licenses. These licenses are incompatible with the GPL which means that I and others who choose other open-source licenses can't use any of the GPL'd resources on OGA without being forced to release my project under the GPL as well.
That alone is where the problem lies. There is a lot of fantastic content on OGA that I can't use because of the GPL, and it's frustrating... no... infuriating... that my hands are tied like that, especially when the artist 'wants to see where this ends up!' and even more especially when the resource/resources are a really good fit.
Agreed. I used to be a big fan of the GPL until I realized what it implied... and I didn't like those implications so I sought out licensing alternatives and found the BSD/ZLib licenses sufficient for software and CC licensing sufficient for artwork. Plus, they're all compatible and none of them forces an entire project to be licensed the same way, just the original work and derivatives (for the most part).
The problem with converting from MP3 to OGG is the serious loss of quality when doing so. They use two different compression algorithms and so they end up throwing away different parts of the audio stream. Converting MP3 to OGG basically means throwing away audio twice, not just once as when converting from a raw loss-less to one or the other lossy formats.
I would agree that encoding to 3 - 4 formats would be overkill, but I think it's reasonable to request both MP3 and OGG. Or, MP3 and whatever raw format you use (wav? flac? something else entire?).
I really wish all of these were under a less restrictive license and compressed with a better audio format (OGG). They're very usable but the licensing makes it impossible for me to use and the audio format causes the same problem (MP3 is a proprietary format so I can't support it in my engine without paying royalties)...
You're not specifying an alpha mask. Despite what the documentation says (and it can be a bit confusing), if you don't specify an alpha mask, you won't get any alpha channel at all. Your call to SDL_CreateRGBSurfaceFrom should look like this:
Art licensing has been under enough of a debate that I wonder why anybody would release art under a GPL license at all, let alone software (different debate). CC licenses should be more than sufficient for artists to feel protected with their work, so why choose such a horribly restrictive license as the GPL?
Case and point -- if I used art submitted under the GPL in my project, the ENTIRE PROJECT would need to be released under the GPL, source code included. In other words, unless a project is already realeased under the GPL, people (like myself) won't use said art. Which is a downright shame because there's a lot of good art released under really bad licensing.
As a side note, a submission is not the place to ask for help creating new (or revised) content. Ask on the forums instead.
Except that, in the case of source code, if I used even a single line of source code licensed under the GPL, all of the source code in my project would be required to be under the GPL. Because the FSF has not clarified and hasn't really given a good answer yet (I've talked to them directly about this a few times), it stands to reason that art resources that are licensed under the GPL would at least require all the other art for a project to be released under the same license if not the entire project, source code included.
In other words, the GPL is so broadly, ambiguously (read: badly) defined that art released under the GPL is only really useable in projects that are also under the GPL. At least, it is for those who aren't afraid to deal with the potential legal consequences...
I personally would much rather not deal with potential legal issues over an image or a sound piece or a sprite so I just ignore really great artwork that's unfortunate enough to be under a GPL.
Plain and simply, by licensing artwork and other non-software content under the GPL, you're limiting your work to GPL only projects. Not everybody likes the GPL and many, like myself, choose other much less restrictive licneses like the BSD, MIT or ZLib/PNG licenses. These licenses are incompatible with the GPL which means that I and others who choose other open-source licenses can't use any of the GPL'd resources on OGA without being forced to release my project under the GPL as well.
That alone is where the problem lies. There is a lot of fantastic content on OGA that I can't use because of the GPL, and it's frustrating... no... infuriating... that my hands are tied like that, especially when the artist 'wants to see where this ends up!' and even more especially when the resource/resources are a really good fit.
Apologies for the late reply. Thank you! I appreciate it... :)
Agreed. I used to be a big fan of the GPL until I realized what it implied... and I didn't like those implications so I sought out licensing alternatives and found the BSD/ZLib licenses sufficient for software and CC licensing sufficient for artwork. Plus, they're all compatible and none of them forces an entire project to be licensed the same way, just the original work and derivatives (for the most part).
The problem with converting from MP3 to OGG is the serious loss of quality when doing so. They use two different compression algorithms and so they end up throwing away different parts of the audio stream. Converting MP3 to OGG basically means throwing away audio twice, not just once as when converting from a raw loss-less to one or the other lossy formats.
I would agree that encoding to 3 - 4 formats would be overkill, but I think it's reasonable to request both MP3 and OGG. Or, MP3 and whatever raw format you use (wav? flac? something else entire?).
I have to say that I'm impressed with the level of quality. All of the songs definitely sound sequenced but I find that to be part of their charm.
Nice work... :)
I really wish all of these were under a less restrictive license and compressed with a better audio format (OGG). They're very usable but the licensing makes it impossible for me to use and the audio format causes the same problem (MP3 is a proprietary format so I can't support it in my engine without paying royalties)...
:*(
You're not specifying an alpha mask. Despite what the documentation says (and it can be a bit confusing), if you don't specify an alpha mask, you won't get any alpha channel at all. Your call to SDL_CreateRGBSurfaceFrom should look like this:
It's accurate enough.
Art licensing has been under enough of a debate that I wonder why anybody would release art under a GPL license at all, let alone software (different debate). CC licenses should be more than sufficient for artists to feel protected with their work, so why choose such a horribly restrictive license as the GPL?
Case and point -- if I used art submitted under the GPL in my project, the ENTIRE PROJECT would need to be released under the GPL, source code included. In other words, unless a project is already realeased under the GPL, people (like myself) won't use said art. Which is a downright shame because there's a lot of good art released under really bad licensing.
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