Subject:
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Re: Parts license
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad.dev
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Date:
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Mon, 25 Sep 2000 17:10:28 GMT
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Viewed:
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1347 times
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In lugnet.cad.dev, Paul Gyugyi wrote:
> Have you covered the case where a parts author submits
> a new part for review, but because of errors the part
> is rejected?
Hmm. My thought was that if ldraw.org rejects the part, there's no further
claim (by ldraw.org) on it. I've had part submissions that I've sent back
to the author, because of obvious problems, and the author dropped the
submission, for various reasons.
While this setup seems to protect the author's interests, it also prevents
the situation of having a large number of semi-ready files hanging in limbo
on ldraw.org.
> I think you should still have ldraw.org
> retain rights to modify and distribute, so that someone
> else could clean up the file and later include it in
> the distribution. Kind of blurs the definition of things
> that are "in the distribution".
Well, see above for a 'downside' to that idea. But changing to this
approach would simplify the issue of how the contributor-to-ldraw relation
starts.
Instead of:
You submit it (at which point you are agreeing to the terms)
We review it
We accept it (at which point the terms actually take effect)
Xor we reject it (at which point the terms vanish into the ether)
The process becomes:
You submit it (at which point you agree and the terms go into effect)
We review it
We accept it
Xor it hangs in development, waiting for you (or someone) to fix it
The overall process isn't any simpler, but there are fewer strings hanging
around; when someone makes a contribution, they are granting ldraw.org the
license immediately.
In the real world, the process would work as a dialog between the author
and the reviewer(s), working to get the file(s) ready for release. We'd
only resort to development limbo, with an open-season on the contribution,
if the dialog broke down.
> Top N Things I'd like to do with the parts library.
>
> 1) Include it on an LDLite CD, to be installed
> with my install program, for convenience, and
> combined as part of a single setup.exe file containing
> both LDLite and the parts library.
This is a common theme among software publishers.
> 2) Convert and group the files into compressed tar
> archives, for space efficiency.
Interesting. FMI: how do you mean "group"? Like by filename, or some
other grouping?
> 3) Convert everything to extended-DAT file syntax
> (e.g. the LDLite syntax and use .ldl file extension,
> or a binary format), and modify existing files
> (like stud.dat) using the new syntax (like cylinder
> primitives).
Side note: through fairly brainless conversion to binary, I got a 50%
compression on the parts directory.
> Issue: do I have to document the extended syntax? Do
> I need to submit the modified stud.dat, even though
> it is not in a useful form?
Good issues. I'd say no.
> 4) Provide an "import" or "upgrade" menu option that
> will import the latest parts from ldraw.org, automatically
> modify them, and add them to LDLite. This would be done
> by having LDLite fetch the parts from a server,
> either one at ldraw.org or one I design and provide.
(I'd also like to have a feature in LDAO to grab updates from ldraw.org.)
> Issue: Ideally, I'd like to not confuse a new user, so in
> the interest of seamless software, I'd like LDLite to fetch
> the new files all by itself without user interaction, and
> certainly not pop up a license dialog box every time it does
> a parts file update.
Hmmm. If it was my machine, I'd want to know that some bit of software
decided it was time to connect to a remote machine. If some program did
this without my knowledge, my firewall would quickly bring it to my
attention.
IMO, any program, which doesn't have an inherently "online" function,
should warn the user before connecting across the internet. At least once.
But that's all beside the point: in this case, would/should LDLite be
required to pop up an ldraw.org license box?
Steve
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Parts license
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| (...) By category, probably. On slow disk systems, it may be adventagous to pre-load and cache an entire category of common parts. It also opens to door for people to release a collection of pieces only as a complete set. One might choose to put the (...) (24 years ago, 25-Sep-00, to lugnet.cad.dev)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Parts license
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| Have you covered the case where a parts author submits a new part for review, but because of errors the part is rejected? I think you should still have ldraw.org retain rights to modify and distribute, so that someone else could clean up the file (...) (24 years ago, 21-Sep-00, to lugnet.cad.dev)
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