First post, by MrFlibble
- Rank
- Oldbie
I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find a direct answer to this question on my own.
Suppose a website that puts up DOS shareware games and/or demo versions and/or officially legally freeware games for free download (in compliance with the licenses terms under which this software was released) wanted to start bundling each game with a copy of DOSBox for the benefit of the users, similar to what GOG.com does. I have always assumed that in such cases the distribution of the resulting package would be governed by the original licenses of its components, that is by GNU GPL Version 2 for DOSBox and whatever shareware/demo/freeware license there is for the game.
However, in a recent discussion a user in another forum suggested that there is some clause in DOSBox licensing, or a policy by the development team that prohibits exactly this kind of distribution, unless the party that bundles a game owns rights to its distribution (like GOG.com does). Is that so? Would bundling DOSBox with shareware games (e.g. Apogee Software/3D Realms ones) be illegal or not? Maybe a site that wishes to do this needs to obtain some special permission?
Of course I mean websites that only distribute, free of charge, legal software, that is shareware episodes, demo versions and officially freeware games, not "abandonware".
