registry team mailing list archive

[Loïc Martin <loic.martin3@xxxxxxxxx>]

@Mackenzie: in answer to 1 and 2, I think a simple look at the diff.gz
explains why ;)

For everybody following the thread, I'll try to summarize why nobody has
packaged pcsx2 in Debian and Ubuntu (maybe it will encourage others to
pick up some of the work instead of just "me too" comments):

1. Licensing work:

It's an emulator, and not a simple one. Usually "emulator" equals "mess
of copyright/license problems", with code borrowed here and there
without everyone's notice. Thus, if you plan to package it, you'll
probably spend a few days of full time work just tracking everything
(the fact any project says all copyright is ok means nothing if even one
file comes from somewhere else), maybe only to realise there won't be
any way to get the package distributed. Not speaking about pcsx2, but
there's other open source emulators not packaged for just this reason,
while the relevant projects still distributes the binaries. That's also
probably the reasons lots of emulator developers prefer closed-source,
since open sourcing would reveal the licensing issues :(

In the case of pcsx2, you'll also have to make sure the necessary
plugins are redistributable, since they come from other sources and can
have different licenses. Only one necessary plugin affected, and you end
up with a useless program.

2. Programming:

Last I checked, pcsx2 wasn't designed with Linux packaging in mind, more
like a "drop where you've got user rights and start/configure".
Packaging it would entail modifying the code so it uses XDG environment
variables.

The Linux side off side has also been neglected, with development mostly
targeting Windows. There's at least one Pcsx2 developer that has started
to improve the Linux emulator (for at least a year IIRC), but it's still
not up to par with Windows. Thus any prospective packagers might have
been turned off by the fact that the emulator couldn't run any games
they threw at it, even though the Pcsx2 compatibility list says they
should run perfectly. How do you test your package is good if you don't
know which games should work on Linux?

Any one with the skills to fix 2. will probably spend its time more
wisely just committing to Pcsx2's Google Code, rather than first loosing
many hours with 1.

Since Pcsx2 is developing at a frantic pace, there'll probably be a time
when it can be reasonably packaged in a Linux distribution. We'll have
to see with 0.9.7, but it depends how much the Linux side will have
improved by that time (and if 1. can be done).


With 1. being the main showstopper, there's something people can do even if they're not a developer. Grab the latest Pcsx2 code from Google Code, open an editor and check every file license one by one, documenting your findings on a wiki page so others can see the work done and help and write a decent copyright file (http://dep.debian.net/deps/dep5/). Check also what are the required plugins for Linux, and if they can be redistributed.

-- 
[needs-packaging] pcsx2
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/103791
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Registry
Administrators, which is the registrant for Debian.