Yet another Licencing Question

Game Engine Game Engine Support and Discussion
1

I know there are thousands of these types of threads and I’m sure I’ve went through most of them but I had I quick question.
(this is about releasing “my games” under my full copyright) If i used the blank.blend runtime method (create an empty blend file that will load your blend file and save that as a runtime, that will be your .exe launcher) I know that its created under the BlenderPlayer making your blankd .blend game GPL but that’s just the empty blend right, this means you still hold rights to the .blend file you include that the .exe/launcher is opening?

Also, where can I find all the details about how python scripts you write will effect licencing (make them GPL). Do codes such as “Import bge” or “Import GameLogic as g” do it (infect your game with the GPL stamp)?

This link is dead (it’s about python coding and how it could effect GPL/licensing): http://www.blender.org/education-help/faq/gpl-for-artists/#c2129

2

http://www.blender.org/about/license/ and http://www.blender.org/support/faq/

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

3

Also, where can I find all the details about how python scripts you write will effect licencing (make them GPL). Do codes such as “Import bge” or “Import GameLogic as g” do it (infect your game with the GPL stamp)?

How important is it that your python code stays tightly unknown? So if your blend files are licensed however you like, what use is the code without permission to use the .blends?

I prefer to ignore the licensing and just release everything under the WTFPL, which, so far as I know, complies with GPL. If I ever want to do anything commercially, well, I’ll wait till I have something finished and at a level other people will want.

4

Well that is the thing, I want to release under full copyright (because of potential sponsor and companies policies) and I hear linking to some blender API or libraries with python scripts that are GPL will make your .blend (your game) GPL as well but I can’t find more details on this, just what sort of codes can’t I use in my .blend (game) to avoid it being stamped with the GPL license. Also, I don’t want people using/opening (they would need permission and such) my .blend file that is a separate issue that is not so pressing right now.

5

Thatnks, this pretty much answers my question about the blank.blend but what about scripts used in the game.blend that the blank.blend calls/opens. I would like more info and just what kind of scripts/linking I should avoid (such as “Import bge” ?) so I don’t get the GPL stamp. Any alternatives.

6

This may interest you:

And this:

Let’s also look at this part of the FAQ:

Can I sell plug-ins for Blender?Yes you can, but only if you provide the plug-in and the sources to your clients under the GNU GPL license. The client then benefits from all rights the GPL offers; free to use it, or even distribute it when they wish.

Only if the plug-in doesn’t work within Blender as “acting as a single program” (like using fork or pipe; by only transferring data and not using each others program code) you have the full freedom to license the plug-in as you wish.

And this:

What about my Python scripts?
Python scripts – if they use the Blender API calls – have to be compliant to the GNU GPL as well. We are currently reviewing this with Free Software Foundation though.

I’m pretty sure that the plugins will use something like ‘import bpy’ (another blender module), in which case, yes, you can sell whatever, so long as buying it also includes buying the source-code.

I’m vaguely interested in that last part, about ‘acting as a single program.’
Let’s say I have three things:

  1. bge python API

  2. my own python module

  3. a script that imports the BGE API and my own module and lets them work together.

  4. is under GPL because it’s part of blender

  5. I’ll come back to this

  6. Under GPL because it imports the bge module.

So now for number 2:
I think it can be licensed however you like, as it is independent of the game engine (ie doesn’t import it). It just takes data in, and puts it out. All the interface to blender is done through a separate GPL’d module #3.

But I’m no expert on the GPL, so I may be incorrect.

BTW:
I think this whole python import issue should also be on the FAQ.

7

The FAQ briefly touched on the whole python issue.

What I was getting before was that just your scripts are GPL stamped if the use and “Import” (Import GameLogic as g, Import events, basically all the “Import”)functions/calls but it seams that it will effect EVERYTHING as a whole (your whole .blend - models-animation-textures-GAME- because infected with GPL) the second link you posted mentioned:

“The only way to use GPLed code in your own application without having to GPL your own software is when the GPLed code is running as an own independent process and your own app only communicates it via some communication layer. (Unless, of course, somebody like MySQL tells you that even that approach forces your work under the GPL.)” - could that be possible?

and "Unfortunately, it all comes down to this: If you do not want to put your own work under the GPL, avoid GPLed third party code/modules/software at all costs. " is what it’s starting to come down to.

:no: And here I though once I got past not saving your game as a runtime but finding ways around that like .bat and blank.blend would remedy the whole GPL issue, but there’s always a catch…