What if EA Wants to Release Official Patches Using Community Code? (Licensing & CLA) #280
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For me personally it is fine. I do not mind EA using any of my work as long as players are happy :) I do not expect that EA would ever do this however, but I also did not expect them to open-source Generals, so there is that. |
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📢 Discussion: What if EA Wants to Release Official Patches Using Community Code? (Licensing & CLA)
With EA’s release of the C&C Generals: Zero Hour source code under GPLv3, an important legal and strategic question arises:
👉 What happens if EA wants to release official patches in the future using community-developed improvements?
🚨 The GPL Licensing Barrier
The GPLv3 license EA used is strongly copyleft, meaning that any code derived from it must also be GPLv3. This creates a major issue if EA ever wants to integrate community contributions into an official patch, because:
⚖️ Learning from the Bukkit/Mojang Case
This isn’t just theoretical. A similar situation already happened in gaming history.
This situation was a legal disaster for both sides. Mojang lost access to Bukkit’s improvements, and the community lost one of its most important modding platforms.
To avoid a similar fate, we must proactively address this licensing issue before any real conflict arises.
📝 Proposal: Require a Contribution License Agreement (CLA)
To allow EA to legally use community improvements in official patches without forcing them to open-source their assets, we need a Contribution License Agreement (CLA) for all PRs.
This CLA would ensure that:
✅ Community contributors license their code to both GPLv3 and EA’s proprietary use.
✅ EA can integrate improvements without violating GPLv3 (as long as they do not release engine code changes under a non-GPL license).
✅ The community benefits from official updates, as EA could incorporate community-driven fixes into their Steam releases.
📜 Suggested CLA Terms
Every contributor submitting a PR would need to agree to something like:
This would allow:
🤝 Next Steps
We need a community discussion on:
This is a critical decision for the future of the project. Let’s discuss! 🗣️
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