Kicking the BukkitAnatomy of an open source meltdown

A little about me

● Ryan Michela (@ryanmichela)

● Plugin author● Contributor to the Bukkit project

Overview

● A brief history of Minecraft

● The rise and fall of Bukkit

● How you can protect your project

Brief history of Minecraft

● Minecraft is a sandbox style video game started by Markus “Notch” Presson in 2009 for Mojang Software

● 3rd best selling video game of all time● >54 million copies

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-06-26-minecrafts-console-versions-have-now-outsold-minecraft-on-pc-mac

Brief history of Minecraft

● Beloved by children● The defining video game of the middle-

school generation● The Super Mario Brothers of the 21st

century

The genesis of the Bukkit project

● Bukkit - an open-source Minecraft server platform

● Plugin platform for Minecraft

● Started in December 2010 by Dinnerbone, Evilseph, Grum, and Tahg

https://github.com/Bukkit/Bukkit/commit/4e8311a6551e8d7794cff73c57a481251b47459c

Licensing questions plague infant project

● By January, 2011, the core team started worrying about licensing issues

● Bukkit licensed LGPL, but built on decompiled Minecraft source

● Decompiled Mojang code blended into Bukkit repository

http://forums.bukkit.org/threads/where-is-my-bukkit-preview.543/

Mixed signals from MojangNov 2010: “First of all, most “mods” that add new features to the game are in a very gray area legally, and I frown upon them. Most of them add really cool new features, though. It’s highly likely that something like the bridge mod will make it into the game.” - Notch

http://notch.tumblr.com/post/1525944516/an-update-is-coming-tomorrow

Mixed signals from MojangAugust 2012: “Personally, I used to feel threatened by it as I felt it challenged my “vision,” but on the other hand, I also know how wonderful mods are for games. We decided to just let it happen, and I’m very happy we did. Mods are a huge reason of what Minecraft is.” - Notch

http://www.vg247.com/2012/08/01/notch-minecraft-mod-used-to-threaten-my-vision-minecraft-creator-speaks/

Mojang hires Bukkit team● Feb 28, 2012 - Mojang hires core Bukkit team to work

on official modding API● Mojang offers to help with Bukkit

○ “We will, however, help bukkit to be compatible with 1.2, to avoid having a long gap while you wait for the official Minecraft server to catch up.”

● Licensing fears mostly alleviatedhttp://mojang.com/2012/02/minecraft-team-strengthened/

But darkness was brewing in the community● Opportunistic server owners started charging for in-

game perks, calling them “donations”● Angry parents complain to Mojang

● "I don’t even know how many emails we’ve gotten from parents, asking for their hundred dollars back their kid spent on an item pack on a server we have no control over." - Notch

http://notch.net/2014/06/literally-worse-than-ea/

Pay-to-win becomes commonplace

● Big servers start selling off in-game functionality

● $10k for “rank” in a game targeted at children

Mojang updates its EULA (and fails at public relations)● June, 2014 - Mojang awkwardly chastises for-profit server

owners on IRC○ “doesn't matter at all, based on plugins or not, you

cannot make money with Minecraft without our permission :)”

○ “running servers is *NOT* A BUSINESS*”○ “We'll ask nicely and then send really mean lawyers :)”

http://blog.tian.io/mojang-threatens-lawyers-against-pay-to-win-minecraft-server-operators

https://twitter.com/notch/status/474869769301409792

EULA changes drop bombshell on Bukkit

● “The one major rule is that you must not distribute anything we‘ve made.”

● “so that we are crystal clear, what we have made includes, but is not limited to, the client or the server software for our Game. It also includes modified versions of a Game, part of it or anything else we‘ve made.”

https://account.mojang.com/documents/minecraft_eula

Evilseph shutters Bukkit project

● August 21, 2014● Development team burnt out● No support from Mojang● EULA re-raises specter of infringement

“At this point in time, I think it's safe to say that it's no longer worth it for us to put up a fight when it comes to keeping Bukkit and modding alive. With large and significant changes coming in Minecraft 1.8 that we'll be hard pressed to provide support for and the lack of support from Mojang with updates since acquiring our original core team (Mojang used to provide us with mappings to speed up the update process), there is little motivation for us to continue limping on across various aspects of the project.”- Evilseph

http://forums.bukkit.org/threads/bukkit-its-time-to-say.305106/

Mojang owns bukkit?!

● Mojang secretly bought Bukkit when they hired the core development team

https://storify.com/lukegb/the-tale-of-bukkit-for-minecraft-1-8

Mojang will finish Bukkit

Then the DMCA gets involvedSeptember 3, 2014 - Wolvereness, a long-time Bukkit developer, files a DMCA takedown notice against all versions of Bukkit hosted on the main Bukkit download servers at Multiplay

The provided license requires the use of included or linking code toprovide the original source under the GNU GPL license version 3, or anylater version. An official notice has been sent to Mojang AB, whereas theChief Operating Officer, Vu Bui, responded with the clear text:

Mojang has not authorized the inclusion of any of its proprietaryMinecraft software (including its Minecraft Server software) within theBukkit project to be included in or made subject to any GPL or LGPLlicense, or indeed any other open source license

As the Minecraft Server software is included in CraftBukkit, and theoriginal code has not been provided or its use authorized, this is aviolation of my copyright. I have a good faith belief the distribution ofCraftBukkit includes content of which the distribution is not authorized bythe copyright owner, it's agent, or the law.

http://dl.bukkit.org/dmca/notification.txt

Wolvereness’ Claim

Gone from the internet

● September 5, 2014 - Wolvereness shuts down Bukkit repo on GitHub

● September 6, 2014 - Wolvereness shuts down SpigotMC and Cauldron, forks of Bukkt

https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2014-09-05-CraftBukkit.mdhttp://www.spigotmc.org/threads/our-dmca-response.28772/

Great new things in the future

● Sponge Project steps up

● Microsoft buys Mojang - $2.5B

http://abc13.com/news/software-writer-in-la-marque-latest-swatting-victim/305170/https://mojang.com/2014/09/yes-were-being-bought-by-microsoft

Five Reasons

Reason 1: Questionable inclusion of decompiled code in an open source project● Bukkit built on top of partially decompiled

Mojang code● Mojang code blended with Bukkit code in

Github

Reason 2: Questionable application of (L)GPL3● GPL3 chosen without proper consideration

of consequences● Unmodified Mojang .class files distributed as

part of Bukkit .jar using Maven shade

● LGPL3 explicitly bans linking and distributing non-free code

Reason 3: Questionable relationship with Mojang Software● What exactly did Mojang buy? Bukkit code?

Logos? Domains? - Nobody knows● Mojang success was built on the backs of

volunteers○ Reverse engineering is torturous work○ Some developers feel they were taken advantage of

Reason 4: No contributor license agreement● 125+ developers each own their own piece

of Bukkit● Project couldn’t re-license with more

permissive license

Reason 5: Unhappy developer community● EULA changes● Terrible Mojang PR● Secretly selling the project

It only takes one unhappy developer to kill an unprotected project

Thoroughly consider your license before your first commit● Which license do you choose?

○ MIT?○ Apache?○ GPL?○ Other?

● Changing your license after accepting contributions is not trivial

www.choosealicense.com

● Node● Bootstrap● JQuery● Rails

● Apache.*● Docker● NuGet● Android

● Linux● Git● Mongo (AGPL)● Discourse

MIT vs. Apache

Permissive licensing● MIT - Do whatever you want● Apache - Patent protection

GPL vs. LGPL vs. AGPL

Restrictive licensing● GPL - products● LGPL - libraries● AGPL - network services

http://oss-watch.ac.uk/apps/licdiff/

Thoroughly vet the licenses of all components you modify or link against● If your dependencies licenses are

incompatible with your license, your license may be invalid

● http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html

● Unlicensed code is a landmine

Common license compatibility

David A. Wheeler, The Free-Libre / Open Source Software (FLOSS) License Slidehttp://www.dwheeler.com/essays/floss-license-slide.html

Avoid uncommon or “off brand” licenses● Legal ramifications less understood● License compatibility less understood

● Don’t “roll your own”

Consider a Contributor License Agreement● Typically grants or transfers copyright to the

project

● http://www.clahub.com - for Github projects

Avoid pinning the survival of your open-source project on

the good graces of a for-profit company

Avoid directly linking to closed source code in an

open source project

Avoid alienating your entire developer community

simultaneously

Avoid operating your project in another company’s legal

gray area

Don’t secretly sell your open source project to a for-profit company while continuing to

accept contributions

And especially: