Source Code Policy
I have decided to share my source code with the world. The intention of
this sharing is twofold: to allow others to learn from my code and to allow
others to suggest improvements.
Sharing for learning
I do not flatter myself that this is the most beautiful piece of code,
but I certainly think that it would be instructive for some others less
experienced with Pilot development. I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know how
much it would compromise my rights to say something like "You can copy,
use, and modify portions of this code as you wish, so long as the intended
product is not in a competitive position with Flash!. (Foreign-language
versions are taken as competive)." So I won't say that. Therefore, according
to the law (which we all know should be your sole moral guiding principle,
and which I know you would never break even if I gave you permission to)
you should learn from this code, but not touch it.
The current, initial release of the source code is pretty messy, comment-wise.
I've commented solely for my own use, and although I think the code and
comments together are generally quite readable, some comments are quite
cryptic. I hope to clean this up in the future.
If you want to learn more than you ever could from just my code, here's
a link to the GNU
Manifesto. If you're a programmer and haven't read it, you should.
What I'm doing here may not be enough to satisfy a true free-software purist,
but I hope that it's at least in the right spirit.
Sharing for improvement
The other reason I'm sharing my code is more selfish. I want you to help
improve it. If you have a feature or bug fix that you want to try, please,
be my guest. Even if you're not a registered user, you can keep the product
of your own labor on your Pilot for as long as you are actively working
on it. If you give up or finish, please send me a copy of your work, and
I'll see about rolling it into an official release.
Anyone whose work is included in an official release is automatically
a registered user of Flash!. If you're already a registered user, or if
you feel that your work merits more than just a single free registration,
talk to me, and we'll work something out. I probably won't pay you, though
I would consider matching your donation to a charity of your choice.
Sharing for stealing
I am not releasing this source code so you can steal it. I realize that
the release of my source code makes it ludicrously easy for you to circumvent
my "registration" process and use or distribute my software for free. DO
NOT DO THIS.
Homunculus software provides the following source code as a public service,
and by doing so does not forego any rights to it beyond those it cannot
legally retain after sharing the code in this manner. Specifically, all
copyright rights are retained and the source code may not be copied or
distributed in any manner. Please make links only to this page, and not
to the archived file.
I agree to the terms in the paragraph above, now let
me download the source code.
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