OpenUru.org

Hi,

Mark DeForest from Cyan Worlds is contacting known repo holders, but just in case, this is a public notice to all CWE repo holders and contributors.

RAD Game Tools has found a file that is not in compliance with their licensing in various Bitbucket repos. The file is plLayerBink.cpp. I assume it would be in all repos, including Github. The file needs to be removed immediately from *all* repositories and branches. Figure out the workaround later. Please contact any contributors or repo holders you know and relate the importance of moving on this as quickly as possible.

It would be cool if this inspires implementation of FFmpeg/libavcodec to bring back Bink video support.


Thanks,

JW

Subject: CWE source module violation with RAD Tools
Hi ----,
**Very Important! Please Read!**

The following source module that is your repository of the CyanWorlds.com Engine needs to be removed immediately.
./Plasma20/Sources/Plasma/FeatureLib/pfSurface/plLayerBink.cpp
Please be sure to delete all copies included in all branches.

This source module is in violation of an agreement that could result in substantial penalty that Cyan Worlds,Inc will have to pay.
Please help us rectify this matter as quickly as posible.

If you have any questions, please contact legal@cyan.com

Thanks,
Mark DeForest
Cyan Worlds, Inc.

I have reviewed the file in question. I see nothing that would violate any RAD Game Tools IP, save perhaps some Bink SDK forward declarations; however, the courts have recently ruled that APIs are not copyrightable. Therefore, RAD Game Tools (or Cyan) must prove to me beyond any reasonable doubt that plLayerBink.cpp is in violation, as they would with any copyright violation. And let me tell you, I very highly doubt there is any violation.

I must question the feasibility of such a request too; it's easy enough if the software is spread across only a few coders, but looking at the H'uru fork, I see 38 more (publicly forked; who knows if there are more out there...). Some of those people have cloned the software, but have never touched it, and it seems to me reasonable to assume they have become inactive or lost interest; how will they modify their repo?

Also: must we do a full rebase, removing that file from every single commit, or is a single commit deleting it sufficient?

Also: must we do a full rebase, removing that file from every single commit, or is a single commit deleting it sufficient?

No, a single commit is not sufficient.

OpenUru.org has already disabled its Foundry repos and will soon disable its Bitbucket repos until they are rebuilt entirely without the file.

Hi Adam,

You are where I was this morning, until I got a further explanation. What I did not realize was whoever at Cyan wrote plLayerBink.cpp had copied the code nearly verbatim from the RAD Tools SDK sample code. And that is what is in violation of Cyan's agreement with RAD Tools. Which carries *very* substantial penalties that Cyan Worlds would have to pay. Substantial enough to put Cyan in dire straits.

Please, to me this seems like a very small request to remove this file in face of the enormity of the situation.

Thanks for your understanding.
Mark

Chogon wrote:whoever at Cyan wrote plLayerBink.cpp had copied the code nearly verbatim from the RAD Tools SDK sample code

And that is not good. We'll toss the file from the H-uru repository and attempt to get everyone else to do the same.

To comply with Cyan's request, for the moment access to the Foundry and BitBucket Mercurial repositories for all flavors of CWE has been restricted.

It will take a little while to rebuild the repositories to eliminate the problem files. I'll post an update when access is available again.

_R

A double post because this is more important than the former...

Does this affect plBinkPlayer.cpp as well? If so, we'll want to tackle that at the same time (and you'll want to be sure to not include the bink Cyan intro with MOULa for GPL compatibility).

EDIT: also the yeesha intro video

No, it does not. Nor does it affect plBinkBitmap.cpp. Nor the content. Only plLayerBink.cpp is affected.

rarified wrote:To comply with Cyan's request, for the moment access to the Foundry and BitBucket Mercurial repositories for all flavors of CWE has been restricted._R

Shouldn't this be restricted too? http://foundry.openuru.org/hg/CWE-ou-minkata