license.txt

The License
The Proton SDK License (based on the XFree86 1.1 license)

This license applies to the source code.  This license doesn't cover the art/audio which is a trickier beast.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicence, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions, and the following disclaimer.

2. The end-user documentation included with the redistribution, if any, must include the following acknowledgment: “This product includes software written by Seth A. Robinson ( www.rtsoft.com )”, in the same place and form as other third-party acknowledgments. Alternately, this acknowledgment can appear in the software itself, in the same form and location as other such third-party acknowledgments.

3. Except as contained in this notice, the name of Seth A. Robinson shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior authorization from Seth A. Robinson.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL SETH A. ROBINSON BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Note:

Some of the libraries/source included in this package may have additional requirements or restrictions. The Proton SDK license only applies to source code that Seth wrote.

Attribution a problem? Don't despair, contact Seth.

Why this bsd style license and not GPL or zlib?

Here is the reasoning:

A GPL/LGPL license removes the ability to protect and hide your private code and introduces various licensing limitations concerning proprietary code that are not helpful especially on mobile platforms.

If this was zlib free, someone might eventually GPL a branch and start adding features to it, which could not be shared with the main distribution which has a much more open license. (This happened with my zlib licensed game Dink Smallwood - I was unable to use community improvements from a GPLed version when doing the mobile port, for instance)