Official GPL webpage available?

[bob]

Hi there,

know a member the main url about GPL?
I found too many information urls which such information.

Important information for Robert Houdert.
I think we should help Robert a bit.

Best
Frank

Frank, Robert doesn't infringe GPL, because the Robbo* Ippolit* code he's accused to have as the base for Houdini is not GPL but public domain:
http://ippolit.wikispaces.com/FAQ

Q. How copyright IPPOLIT?
A. Publicdomain (workers), only.

So, technically, this is a clone, yes, but not an illegal one, although most tourney managers will refuse to include yet another clone in their tournament, however strong it might be.

Not so fast. If it really came from rybka 3, then it has either (a) fruit code that is under GPL, or (b) original code written by Vas which IS copyrighted by him. Either way, that will certainly make Houdini a copyright infringement. If ippolit and friends really came from Rybka. Several have said it is based on rybka, although it is not an exact copy. Which would make ANY derivative problematic with respect to copyright law...

[IWB]

you must be confused, that's completely wrong.

Not completly, but wrong, yes.

RobboLito 0.09 is still available for download from chesslogik.com.
It is GPL'd and always has been.

Yes, it is available now. Last time I checked it wasnt there - I think ... but, so what.

RobboLito 0.09 was released on 12/31/2009...well before the 1st Houdini release -> 5/16/2010
and RobboLito 0.09 was the very last release of my and Sentinel's Chesslogik RobboLito development series,
so all previous versions have an even earlier release date.

Whatever you say, but the copyright notice wasn't always there AND the original code still is PD until today! Which means, except the "missing downlaod for 0.9" nothing factual changes on what I have written.

Ingo

[kranium]

Yes, it is available now. Last time I checked it wasnt there - I think ... but, so what.

RobboLito 0.09 was released on 12/31/2009...well before the 1st Houdini release -> 5/16/2010
and RobboLito 0.09 was the very last release of my and Sentinel's Chesslogik RobboLito development series,
so all previous versions have an even earlier release date.

Whatever you say, but the copyright notice wasn't always there AND the original code still is PD until today! Which means, except the "missing downlaod for 0.9" nothing factual changes on what I have written.

Ingo

Ingo-

RobboLito 0.09 has been available continuously for download from ChessLogik since Jan. 2010
with no interruptions of any kind.

And the GPL license has always been there...Version 3, 29 June 2007, please see copying.txt.

Also, you can check the file modification dates...

In addition to the copying.txt, the copyright notice forms the header for each source code file.

Alternately, you can download an archive copy from any of the numerous MediaFile (or like) download sites.
They will all show the same thing.

I released 18 versions for public testing on Immortal, all were GPL'd except the 1st three...the 3 early RobboLite versions.
For more information and a detailed history, please see http://www.chesslogik.com and click on RobboLito

Please check you facts before posting any more misinformation on this subject.

Norm

[bhlangonijr]

Even if he did so, how would we deal with the fact that there were several positions with exactly matching PVs for many depths compared to robbolito?

The fact Houdini 1.0 is behaving exactly as Robbo in many positions is a strong evidence that it is a derivative work. Although we know this is not the only evidence of the wrongdoing. Lance Perkins and Richard Vida did RE the first versions of Houdini and confirmed it as a clone.
Personally, I doubt Robert would provide even parts of Houdini's source code. For obvious reasons. If he is telling the true, provides the source code and demonstrate it is an original work, but it has so much ideas from Robbo which would explain the fact it is behaving exactly as Robbo, I would be fine with that. In fact, in that case I would buy Houdini and help the little children.

Regards,

[M ANSARI]

Sorry ... but you cannot GPL code that is not yours. You cannot use public domain code and change it a bit and then claim it is your original creation and GPL it. If Ippolit is based on decompiled Rybka 3, then Vas would have to contest it ... if he doesn't then all bets are off.

[Michel]

Sorry ... but you cannot GPL code that is not yours. You cannot use public domain code and change it a bit and then claim it is your original creation and GPL it.

Yes you can... public domain means public domain.

You cannot do the opposite: take GPL code and make it public domain.

[kranium]

Sorry ... but you cannot GPL code that is not yours. You cannot use public domain code and change it a bit and then claim it is your original creation and GPL it. If Ippolit is based on decompiled Rybka 3, then Vas would have to contest it ... if he doesn't then all bets are off.

Never claimed it was mine...don't think it is, and i don't claim it as my original creation...I even use a synonym.

/*
RobboLito is a UCI chess playing engine
authors: Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin, Igor Igorovich Igoronov, Roberto Pescatore
copyright: (C) 2009 Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin
date: 92th and 93rd year from Revolution
owners: PUBLICDOMAIN (workers)
dedication: To Vladimir Ilyich

RobboLito is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

RobboLito is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
*/

The above GPL notice was attached to each and every source file, to protect my and Sentinels efforts (our changes) in this regard....
in the hope that this excellent codebase would not find it's way into any commercial program and would remain open-source.

PS- the amount of code changes were enormous, quite substantial...including many bug fixes, code cleanup, and the translation from Italo-Albanian dialect into common English programming terms.

And lastly, ...yes, absolutely...one can add GPL to one's programming efforts, whether or not the source was public domain or not...that plays no role.

[Alexander Schmidt]

Sorry ... but you cannot GPL code that is not yours.

Indeed, you can close the source and sell it but you can't GPL it

[Frank Quisinsky]

Hi Norman,

OK, my first posting are right.
In the afternoon I can't look (GPL or not) because I am not sitting on my own PC. But I have it in my brain that all the version I donwload from yourself are under GPL, also the older Robbolito version.

But Robbolito isn't the topic.
After all I know Houdini based on one of the first IvanHoe versions, if I understand the Thinker programmer. Not reading the thread again.

Best
Frank

[M ANSARI]

Sorry ... but you cannot GPL code that is not yours. You cannot use public domain code and change it a bit and then claim it is your original creation and GPL it.

Yes you can... public domain means public domain.

You cannot do the opposite: take GPL code and make it public domain.

I guess you can plaster a GPL license on anything, but I could also claim that I am King of the United States of America. It might make me happy, but chances are that nobody will take me seriously ... and I would have a hard time enforcing my kingdom. I would love to see how someone would go around trying to enforce a GPL license from something he copied from PD.