Re: [gnugo-devel] I want to know about licence of gnugo.

[Daniel Bump]

> I want to know about licence of gnugo.
> I want to make beginner's igo program for Macintosh.
> I want to make it by the ORIGINAL algorithm in the future.
> But, first of all I want to transplante GnuGo-3.0.0
> because it is early and wants it.

The license (GPL) has been translated into Japanese and you
can find it at:

ftp://ftp.sra.co.jp/pub/gnu/local-fix/GPL2-j/

> Must I add a source code when distribute the executable program of
> transplante it for Macintosh as freeware?

The license requires that, if you integrate GNU Go with
your program then you must distribute the source.  If GNU 
Go is part of your executable then you have to do this.

You could make a client program that communicates with GNU Go using the Go
Text Protocol or with the Go Modem Protocol. If your program is separate and
GNU Go is not part of the executable, you would not be required to
distribute the source. But if you distribute GNU Go you are supposed to
distribute the source to GNU Go.

> Because it is not UNIX, a development environment varies in Macintosh
> greatly.  It is difficult to make a source code develop for Macintosh and
> keep the original form.  A user earns a profit by using a executable
> program, and he doesn't recognize that they are program resources.

People have been successful in porting GNU Go to Mac OS X. There
is a good user interface distributed by Sente Software. See
http://www.sente.ch/software/goban/ .

> I want to use GnuGo-3.0.0's thinking engine as free library.
> I will display copyright notice on the software.
> Therefore, isn't it sufficient?

Displaying the copyright notice is NOT sufficient. If you
distribute GNU Go then you should distribute the source to
GNU Go. If you distribute a program that includes GNU Go in
its executable then you must distribute the source to the 
entire program. If you distribute a client that communicates
with GNU Go through the Go Text Protocol or the Go Modem
Protocol you do not need to distribute the source to your
program. But you can be asked to distribute the source to
GNU Go.

GNU Go 3.1.27 is quite a bit stronger than GNU Go 3.0.0.
GNU Go 3.2 should be available in a month or two.

Daniel Bump