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05/13/14, 02:20 PM   #20
Sephiroth018
 
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Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 20
And this thread exactly shows why my addons will always be private and only used by me (and maybe some friends). I have to deal with all those different kinds of copyright licenses in my job (software developer) and then I should do that too for a hobby?
I also like to "reinvent the weel" so to say, just because I like programming, but there are some things I don't like to reinvent, especially if there is something about it that I dislike or takes too much time for me to do. Why shouldn't I use a part of another addon to quicker finish the development of my idea, so I can use my time for something else?
Just as an example, I made an addon that junks loot based on a rule system, before JunkBuster worked good enough. As it is very similar in it's functionality, there are only so many ways to do that and so I'm sure parts can already be considered copied, even if I never looked at the source code of it and never included more UI than some debug settings with LAM, as I currently am the only user of the addon and edit the rules directly in the saved variables. If it had a UI working as I wanted, I would definitely have copied and adapted the code for it, because doing that myself isn't worth the effort, even if I would have made it publicly available.

To the specific case here: Yes, it's not really nice that he copied your UI, but I think there is a difference between copying the code to post it as his own and copying the code to use it in a different way. In the first case, it would be OK to let the addon be put down. But in the latter case, he used the code to make something different out of it and just used your UI code because it was a quicker way to finish his goal (a matrix of crafting item types and something (in his case crafting sets), displaying which item could be crafted with that set bonus, and a teleport ability). Without that, it would probably never have been released, which would really be a shame.


To all addon authors: Please stop using licenses that don't allow the usage of your code, just include some license that allows modifying, partial use and so on as long as they give credit and we all will benefit from it, in the form of more addons. Yes, there will be many addons that are nearly the same, only varying in some small functions, but where is the problem with that? Addon developing is just a hobby!
Or at least be so kind and always include a license, so we know explicitly what you allow others to do with your code.

To ESOUI: Please add the ability to define the used license and show it on the addon page. In the best case this should be a required field. And in a perfect world, the MIT license (or one equal to it) would be preselected.


Originally Posted by Stormknight View Post
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I dislike investing effort to create something and then having someone else try to take credit for it.
Would it be OK for you if he explicitly stated that he used your UI code? I'm asking that only because I want to know your opinion on that.
Btw, in my opinion he didn't try to take any credit for your UI code, but for his idea.


Originally Posted by hNipster View Post
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so I'm discontinuing public development of it.
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Well done, copyright friends.

PS: Even if I never publish my addons for the public, every single one is under the MIT license to allow maximum reuseability of my code.
PPS: If there is anything not understandeable in this post, please consider that this post has been written, reformatted and partially rewritten for about 2 hours.
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