Possible trouble: Bukkit restructure/shutdown

[quog38]

However Wesley has no right to deny use of his code, unless the GPL license is broken. So Mojang or anyone for that matter has the right to take that bukkit code and enhance or change it, as long as they abide by the GPL license.
Now as a company Mojang cannot embed CraftBukkit within a non GPL project (like minecraft), but they could freely make a clone of the code and change it as they see fit (while complying with GPL).

That's the thing though, the 4 devs who joined mojang and have been now paid by mojang are trying to close source bukkit/craftbukkit into the mojang API and that's why Wolfe filed a DMCA.
It is wolfe Vs mojang because Mojang PAID for bukkit two years ago on the sly and no one was informed. Wolfe wrote his code while under the assumption it was still part of the community project when in actual fact it was now owned by Mojang. Yes they signed an agreement to be hands off but they still owned the project and it was no longer what the contributors originally signed up for when they first joined/participated.

There were quotes from dinnerbone saying he will rewrite the entire code just so it can be close sourced that were deleted and then reworded so he wont be seen as trying to break the GPL licence.
There is a twitter quote from Wolfe himself replying to a comment saying "we have our lawyers looking into this" by saying "unless you want to use my code under the GPL and release all linked source code under GPL then there is nothing to discuss" which is exactly what the law states. If mojang uses bukkit which they now own and links it to their closed source code under the GPL it requires them to distribute the linked code under GPL as well.

in essence while bukkit/craftbukkit was still a community run project in a legal grey area and mojang turned a blind eye nothing was a problem. When mojang purchased bukkit and expressed interest in using it alongside closed source code that's where the issue came from.

it pretty much boils down to the fact that as long as anyone but mojang releases/updates bukkit wolfe has no issue, but as long as mojang own bukkit and people are being paid by them to update it he has an issue.

[sorifiend]

That's the thing though, the 4 devs who joined mojang and have been now paid by mojang are trying to close source bukkit/craftbukkit into the mojang API and that's why Wolfe filed a DMCA.

Where does Mojang ever say that they want to close source Bukkit or CraftBukkit? Thats a huge misunderstanding.
The DMCA was not sent to Mojang, it was sent to the CraftBukkit and Spigot.

If Mojang were using Bukkit or CraftBukkit code in Minecraft (Closed source) then yes Wesley has every right to shut Minecraft/Mojang down (Not Bukkit or CraftBukkit), but he cant because Mojang/Minecraft does not use CraftBukkit or Bukkit at all in their vanilla server software.

There were quotes from dinnerbone saying he will rewrite the entire code just so it can be close sourced that were deleted and then reworded so he wont be seen as trying to break the GPL licence.

Exactly, Mojang's server API is being buit from scratch by Dinnerbone. Mojang have already stated that they have no intention to use any of the CraftBukkit code. The people being hurt most by Wesley's request are the CraftBukkit and Spigot community, not Mojang.

When mojang purchased bukkit and expressed interest in using it alongside closed source code that's where the issue came from.

It wasn't an issue when they purchased it, and the GPL denies them use of the code inside of Minecraft server software. This only came about when EvilSeph recently left the project, along with every Major staff member. In the absence of the major staff Mojang knew the project would fail, so they offered to help the community and finish the 1.8 CraftBukkit update. What is so bad about that? And why would Wesley try and stop the 1.8 update?

it pretty much boils down to the fact that as long as anyone but mojang releases/updates bukkit wolfe has no issue, but as long as mojang own bukkit and people are being paid by them to update it he has an issue.

Not true, Wesley also sent a DMCA to the spigot team, a completely independent group who were using his code exactly as it should be.
I can understand that Wesley may not like Mojang, but why would he stop Spigot from completing the 1.8 update? That is a bit of an odd move? I highly doubt that anyone else has the skill and dedication to complete the 1.8 CraftBukkit update, does he really want to force the CraftBukkit project to crash and burn right now?

Edit:

If mojang uses bukkit which they now own and links it to their closed source code under the GPL it requires them to distribute the linked code under GPL as well.

Correct, but they do not use any CraftBukkit source in the Minecraft software. Mojang's ownership of the project should have nothing to do with the situation, someone is just kicking up a fuss.
So again: The only people being hurt are the CraftBukkit and Spigot community. It does not effect Mojang and their Minecraft server software at all, and it never will because its not the same project.
Now when it comes to Bukkit and CraftBukkit ownership:
What Mojang really owns is the use of the project name (Bukkit, CraftBukkit), and as such it falls back on them to handle the responsibility (in absence of community staff) of hosting and maintaining the community sites like the forum, and managing things like the github repo, and additionally updating the project if they wish (in absence of community staff).

[sorifiend]

Good news everyone:
Spigot has a good temporary work around to Wesley's DMCA request.

Rather than proving their modified CraftBukkit, they are instead proving binary patches, to go over top of an older server version. This means that all updates/code distribution using this new method is 100% GPL, and it is now up to the end user to mix the GPL patch with the existing non GPL Minecraft server.

More info here: http://www.spigotmc.org/threads/spigot-update-20140909a.29091/

[quog38]

This is what sparked the entire issue.
https://storify.com/lukegb/the-tale-of- ... ecraft-1-8

1. mojang secretly purchased bukkit, no one knew. Mojang is now the parent company of bukkit.
2. dinnerbone now an employee of mojang said he would personally update bukkit - this is the same as mojang saying they will update bukkit
3. bukkit is not a community led project anymore it is a mojang led project.
4. bukkit was sent the DMCA because the servers hosting the code are still listed as owned by Multiplay however Mojang owning bukkit makes them liable for bukkits wrong doings (breech of licence via distributing craftbukkit with closed source code attatched)

Wolfe only recently found out that his work is not being used/administered by the community that he thought he was part of. Instead the project was bought by a company so the project could be maintained to help them sell their product. Nothing would have been wrong there had the community been told about the ownership change, the license updated to reflect the change in ownership, and the server being unbundled.Bukkit, before being acquired by Mojang, was in fairly major copyright violation (or at minimum EULA) when redistributing the Minecraft server code. Mojang however, chose not to press the issue at that time. craftBukkit was effectively stealing their code, that theft did not however leverage the GPL license against them and their code at that point.
When Mojang bought Bukkit, they then were then legally redistributing the server code. (It's not really possible for Mojang to unlawfully distribute their own code.) The GPL license is quite clear about closed source portions of code being used as part of a GPL open source project, any code that is LEGALLY included in GPL project must be GPL as well. As soon as Mojang pushed a build that included their closed server code with a Bukkit build they were in violation of the GPL license and Wolfe has every legal right (as far as I know) and surely moral right to tell them to either comply with the license he contributed under (open the server code) or strip his code from the project.

now this is where it gets complicated.

Mojang has not authorized the inclusion of any of its proprietary Minecraft software (including its Minecraft Server software) within the Bukkit project to be included in or made subject to any GPL or LGPL license, or indeed any other open source license

According to that statement made by the COO of Mojang for the two years Mojang have owned bukkit they have been releasing their own code in violation of the GPL license so the server code should have been made open source but wasn't.

As soon as dinnerbone said he will personally update bukkit it was mojang saying they are breeching the GPL and will continue to use their closed source server code in the bundle.

I'm not sure why spigot was hit with a DMCA unless wolfe gained legal advice and was told to blanket DMCA his code which is his right to do so.

whatever happens with this shitstorm I 100% agree that the people being hurt the most are us users and especially server owners like you.
Sadly though Mojang started this with the BS EULA by trying to effectively own any mod ever made in the first place illegally and wolfe is showing them it doesn't work that way.

If you make any content available on or through our Game, you must give us permission to use, copy, modify and adapt that content. This permission must be irrevocable, and you must also let us permit other people to use, copy, modify and adapt your content. If you don‘t want to give us this permission, do not make content available on or through our Game. Please think carefully before you make any content available, because it will be made public and might even be used by other people in a way you don‘t like.

The EULA is subject to any legal rights you might have. Nothing in these terms and conditions will limit any of your rights that may not be excluded under law nor shall it exclude or limit our liability for death or personal injury resulting from our negligence nor any fraudulent representation.

Mojang has never once tried to help in anyway until bukkit tried to close down because if bukkit closes down mojang lose money, without bukkit/craft bukkit there would be no SMP and SMP is the biggest draw to minecraft these days.

[frogman786]

Today I am proud to announce a new update mechanism for Spigot, which will see us through the future, at least in the short term until more permanent mechanisms are put into place and other things are sorted out. As of today, all Spigot updates will come in the form of binary patches based on the last public build, #1649. These patches will be issued nightly, based on the day’s current date, and will contain a summary of all changes issued since build #1649.

Binary patches are a safe method of distributing and applying updates as they do not contain any copyrighted code, and are something which have been pioneered within the ROMhacking / homebrew community for over twenty years.

source: http://www.spigotmc.org/threads/spigot- ... 09a.29091/

[sorifiend]

For those interested we hope to stick with the Spigot server mod, however if things get messy then we may look at the glowstone or sponge projects, both are being worked on by a very talented coders.

Links:
http://www.glowstone.net/
http://spongepowered.org/

[jacob-kaiwai]

Hopefuly microsoft will save the day (Maybe)