Re: [GNU-linux-libre] Adding some scummvm game(s) to the "List of software that does not respect the Free System Distribution Guidelines".

[bill-auger]

On Wed, 14 Jun 2023 01:53:16 +0200 Denis wrote:
> - The game is GPLv2 but I'm unsure if we have a license or not for the
>   game data.

i would not expect so for any game; but i do believe that the authors
usually intended so

as i alluded previously, games are notorious for sloppy licensing - what ive
seen often, is like the classic case (like these scummvm games) of a once
commercial proprietary game, which was "put out to pasture" by the game company
when the business went belly-up - the authors simply slap a GPL or permissive
license in the package and let it go - that practice is only slightly less
prevalent for games that were originally released under a free license

games rarely itemize or account for the licensing of data files, images,
sounds, etc - though it is likely that the author fully intended the entire
package to be freely-licensed, that is rarely explicit or even obvious

so the question is: should we take on face value, these cows set out to
pasture with a "Take me! I'm Free!" sign around their necks? - or do we reject
them, because all copyrightable files are not explicitly associated with a
license?

this question itself is worth discussing on its own merit; because the majority
of _apparently_ freely-licensed games have this deficiency