License
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Odamex dutifully follows the guidelines of the GNU General Public License (GPL). As a result, the Odamex source will always be available for everybody to download, observe and modify.
GPL Compatibility
Origins
Odamex is based on csDoom 0.62. This was, in turn, based on ZDoom 1.22). Fly, the author of csDoom, claimed that it was GPL; however, the ZDoom codebase which he used actually contained source code under several conflicting licenses:
- The Doom source under the Doom Educational License.
- QuakeWorld, which was released under the GNU General Public License.
- Heretic and Hexen code, which was released under a separate, GPL-incompatible license.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to have a proper GNU GPL port while the codebase contains code under a GPL-incompatible license.
Solution
Odamex has taken the following steps to ensure that it is compliant with the GPL:
- All code from ZDoom 1.22 that originates from Heretic or Hexen has either been completely removed or rewritten from scratch.
- Randy Heit has agreed to relicense ZDoom under the GNU GPL, provided that the above condition is met.
- The fact that ZDoom is now available under both Doom Educational License and the GNU Public License grants the author of ZDoom 1.22 the right to choose either one.
- csDoom was at least at one point released under the GNU GPL. As we do not have any proper contact information for Fly (the author of csDoom), we are taking his work as being compatible with this license.