FOSSPicks

Sparkling gems and new releases from the world of Free and Open Source Software

- BY NATE DRAKE

Nate explores the top FOSS, including the latest Trinity Desktop, a database for first-person shooter strategies, and an Al for building LEGO structures.

Clash of the Licenses

If you've spent any time in the retro gaming space, you'll have come across libogc — a community-developed C library that underpins a lot of GameCube and Wii emulators.

For years there have been troubling rumors that at least some of libogc's code was based on leaked information from Nintendo. The controversy's taken a new turn recently, as it seems that significant portions of libogc have also been copied from other open source projects: most notably the Real-Time Executive for Multiprocessor Systems (RTEMS) and the Linux kernel, without proper attribution.

RTEMS is released under a permissive 2-clause BSD license, meaning its code can be reused provided the original authors are credited. RTEMS has released a statement claiming that this hasn't been done. It also points out that the Linux kernel's GPLv2 license is much more restrictive.

RTEMS believes it now has enough evidence to have libogc removed from GitHub, but RTEMS is reluctant to request this due to the implications for the Homebrew community. Frustratingly, the libogc developers could resolve the issues related to use of RTEMS' code with a single GitHub commit. The moral of the story? If you use even the smallest snippet of someone else's open source code, read the license thoroughly first.

Trinity

Trinity Desktop Environment (TDE) began its life in 2010 as a fork of KDE 3.5, after Kubuntu switched to Plasma 4. It's since become a fully fledged project in its own right and ships with various distros such as Dragora Linux and Exe GNU Linux. Like other lightweight desktops such as LXDE, it's primarily designed for older hardware or users who want a more classic interface.