[Scummvm-devel] engine-data file licenses

[Max Horn]

Am 26.05.2009 um 10:55 schrieb Johannes Schickel:

> Max Horn wrote:
>> Then kyra.dat is generated using the create_kyradat tool, and I think
>> it is created from the original .exe -- or not? Sadly, as all the
>> other create_ tools, this one doesn't seem to be documented, either.
>> If I was right, that would make the legal status of kyra.dat highly
>> questionable -- so hopefully I am just plain wrong :)
>>
>
> It indeed extracts data from the original executable(s) of the games
> supported by the KYRA engine.

OK (and thanks for augmenting the README -- hopefully many others will  
follow this good example ASAP ;).

However, I am now concerned that this puts us into a questionable  
situation, from a legal point of view. It would seem much preferable  
to get rid of kyra.dat and instead extract the required information on- 
the-fly. I mean, if create_kyradat can extract it, then we should also  
be able to extract it on the fly, right?
The only problem with that I am aware of right now are fan- 
translations, which might involve a custom kyra.data right now. Well,  
for those, a compromise could be made -- don't store the actual data  
in kyra.dat, but rather, only store the relevant file offsets in  
kyra.dat (data which is currently hardcoded in the create_kyradat code).
Of course, I am not very familiar with the kyra engine, so there might  
be tons of other serious issues with this -- I am looking forward to  
hearing them :-).


Bye,
Max