Extensions: Comercial Use

[Rodrix]

Hi guys!
I don't know really were to post this, but since it's about extensions I'll put it here.

The question is actually about legal stuff.
All you guys that program for commercial purposes (sell programs/games), what Extension Loading Library do you use? Or do you create your own?

GLEE: says all Copyrights Reserved, although it is made in the form of a BSD License (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modified_BSD_license) . (I checked that in Wikipedia; link)
GLEW: mentions modified BSD license too (but explicitly) . However the license is over the source code only I think. :confused:

I already read all those disclaimers of the GNU and other licenses, but they are not clear enough to me... What do you guys use for commercial purposes without paying any license?!

I wouldn't like to have the surprise of having to pay someone because of selling my software, or being sued over for not understanding the terms... :D

Thanks so much in advance, :)
Rod

[jtipton]

I actually wrote my own for commercial purposes. An added benefit of writing your own is that you can gear it toward your usage as well. GLEW and GLee need to serve a wider audience and hence have to support everything. I would recommend writing your own.

[sqrt[-1]]

I don't think you will have any trouble using GLee/GLew in a commercial app. If you still are not sure, just email the authors.

I would not recommend using your own code unless you are VERY experienced (and have a VERY good reason), as there are lots of apps out there that do a poor job of loading extensions/checking version numbers.

(These apps break when new extensions/ version numbers released and cause driver writers to put "Hacks" in their code.)

[knackered]

You should require very few extensions these days.
the ones you will need are very short to add to a header, with the exception of ARB_vertex_program, ARB_shader_objects, and EXT_framebuffer_object, which are pretty big, but it's just typing rather than complexity.
Of course, it depends on how many hardware configurations you're targetting. If you're going to have to support fixed function, then you're better off using a 3rd party library.
But no, this still isn't an advanced question. As a rule of thumb, if you haven't used OpenGL for more than 3 months, your questions should really go in the beginners forum, irrespective of how proud you are.

[Cozmo]

I've always found extension loading to be pretty darn easy. But also I really don't care much for extra library dependencies (they can pile up on you if you don't watch out).

[Rodrix]

Hi guys!
I followed your advice and e-mailed both authors (GLEE and GLEW). I received very welcoming replies in both, and they both stated practically the same terms:

For distribution in binary forms you must reproduce their license in the documentation of your soft. That's it!

Specifically:

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer as
the first lines of this file unmodified.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. I hope I am not wrong, but that's what I understood. [Disclaimer: I am not responsable for others's works with my reply! :p ]

Cheers!
Rod