Free for Commercial Use ROM Pack?
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@edmaul69 said in Free for Commercial Use ROM Pack?:
@markwkidd so you honestly think you can sell every emulator and bios that is available on the retropie image that you have no legal copyrights to?
No, and I specifically addressed this point in an earlier message. Just because RetroPie itself is GPL software doesn't mean that the emulator cores, or the theme artwork is available under the same license.
It's all there in the licenses, and its the responsibility of a developer to make sure that they follow the licenses. In my opinion, it's also the responsibility of user communities which rely on open source software (like this one) to encourage and support developers to try new things within the free software framework.
It would be one thing if RetroPie had a non-commercial license, but RetroPie is GPL folks! Selling GPL software (and being compelled to share your improvements to the source code, if any) is all part of how the GPL works to put more code out in the open where it can become part of the next generation of new free software that is, as they say "free as in freedom, not free as in free beer."
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@markwkidd the retropie-setup SCRIPT is GPL. much of the software in the image has a non-commercial license.
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@markwkidd the problem is people are marketed to as RETROPIE PLUG AND PLAY ALL THE GAMEZ!!!
People don't see retropie as an install script. They see it as the SD image we release.
We originally made it non commercial because of the dbag Kickstarter sellers, but found out that just like the sellers Kickstarter only cares about taking their cut and not abiding licences. So we just said screw it we'll make it gpl because everyone ignores the licences anyways.
The spirit of GPL to me anyways is about giving back to the community and all these sellers care nothing for that. They are there to make a quick buck off others work. Libretro are no strangers to this, the GPL page you reference refers to tivoization. Which is the main thing happening to Kodi plus a few illegal add-ons.
Because of the nature of copyright law associated with emulation, naturally it has digressed to this and it is unfortunate.
I have actually become quite bitter on the subject where retropie initially was something I did for fun so that I could play all my childhood games on one machine. Now it's just become a constant headache with all the people stealing our work, our name, and of course the work of many of the selfless members of the retropie and emulation community.
The exceptionally vast majority of the sellers dont give any passing glance to the licences or GPL. They are just a bunch of greedy dbags cashing in on others work, and I for one am fed up with it.
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@herb_fargus that all sounds rational to me.
The only thing I'm concerned with when someone posts questions in good faith with commercial possibilities that there are immediate responses giving factually incorrect -- but more importantly -- discouraging advice. I've seen this happen a few times recently.
I'd wager you'll almost never see one of these bootleg RetroPie vendors asking a question like this in the forum. I'd wager they don't care what the license says or whether there is a free "starter pack" to get people interested in emulation. But you are geting tinkerers, inventors, and even software engineers posting questions like this who may not be confident about the licensing but who might have something useful to offer. Maybe they have misconceptions about what is allowed in terms of copyright, maybe they don't.
I think it's bad community if the immediate response to an OP like this one is to shut posters like that down, especially if it includes incorrect advice about the license. I'm just a guest here, so I'll try to stay out of this thread from here unless it gets fun and productive.
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@markwkidd I see your point and I don't wish to discourage your dialogue even if I may have a different perspective.
to be fair there are some sellers like the picade where it is clear that the selling point is hardware and not retropie though it is obviously meant to be used with retropie.
Or like this Kickstarter (which I kinda regret I didn't back, forgot and missed the deadline): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/583173617/raspi-boy-retro-handheld-emulation-console-electro
For me personally retropie has never been about money and never will be and I personally would have preferred we kept it non-commercial, but I am not the one who makes those decisions.
If people have a unique piece of hardware that can run Retropie the hardware should be their selling point. I dislike people using our (and others) software as added value to their profits.
Money and greed really have a way of ruining good things, and my opinion may be unpopular, but I would just as well money have no place with software and that all software be open source so everyone can benefit and share our collective knowledge together to advance all of our lives but I digress...
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@markwkidd where have you seen factually incorrect info? I have always been clear about it afaik. I also don't feel the need to tutor any sellers on how to create a sellable image - that's not my job.
Our legal page should be clear enough. You are confusing GPL of the setup script with the contents of the image btw. The image itself is not GPL - it has components with more restrictive licenses. Many in fact - even the default es theme.
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Btw RetroPie did have a non commercial license. We changed it as it didn't stop people selling it and we thought the GPL would be more useful. However perhaps that was a mistake as it's worse than ever. There have been plenty of cases of people not respecting the GPL license too, keeping their changes private etc.
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@edmaul69 First problem is to immediately assume something without contributing a productive answer to a potential contributors query. Being short and borderline rude is unhelpful and discouraging.
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@slobu anyways the topic has obviously touched a nerve. Back on topic, you said you programmed your own games?
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@slobu So, answering your question:
- I believe what you may be looking for are "public domain roms". However, I am not sure about whether that means there are restrictions to their distribution. But yes, I am under the impression there are some Roms that are legal to download - not to mention homebrew games for each system. That might be a worthy check as well.
- As for your own games, I think that's always a positive thing, ultimately depending on how accessible it is to install/set them up, and assuming that you have the actual rights to their distribution. It's definitely a generous thing to do, for sure. Are they for any of the emulated systems?
Have a great weekend.
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