drag and drop

[Gustav]

I was able to assemble and link it without errors, using the MASM32 V7 windows.inc from the very same site.

[PBrennick]

Isn't there some sort of licensing issue with using that version? Your results are sure interesting, though.

Paul

[Gustav]

> Isn't there some sort of licensing issue with using that version?

I don't know. AFAICS it is allowed to distribute the masm32 windows.inc with non-commercial products.

[Mark Jones]

I'm not sure about the v7 License but the v9 license clearly states that:

What you CANNOT do with the MASM32 Project.
1. The MASM32 Project is not an item of trade or commerce. It cannot be either purchased or sold.
2. The MASM32 Project cannot be re-licenced or made subordinate to any other form of licence.
3. None of its components or source code are redistributable.
4. You cannot use the MASM32 Project to write software for Non-Microsoft Operating Systems.
5. You cannot use the MASM32 Project to write any form of illegal software.

[Gustav]

that sounds bad, especially no 3.

In windows.inc of v8 there is a notice:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
      WINDOWS.INC is copyright software licenced to the user by the
      MASM32 project. It is available completely free of any charges
      for any person to use for purposes including commercial software
      but the file must not be sold or included in any commercial
      programming package.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

So it seems the licence is getting a bit more restrictive from version to version.

[donkey]

The MASM32 license is for the MASM32 project, the equates in Windows.inc can not subject to it's license, they were released by Microsoft as part of it's header files and are a derivitive work of that project. Neither Hutch nor the MASM32 project can legally copyright the Windows equates, copyright requires an original work, and does not apply to derivitive works, and those equates belong to Microsoft, arranging them in a single file is derivitive in nature and so no copyright can be assumed.

The individual functions in the MASM32 library are subject to the copyright restrictions placed on them by their original author unless the copyright was transferred to the project.

Any code you compile using MASM is your own, the MASM32 project makes no claim to ownership of MASM and never has, but usage of MASM is limited by the Microsoft EULA distributed with whatever MASM package you might be using.

However, any original software or tools that are distributed as part of MASM32 and whose author has ceded the copyright of to the MASM32 project, is subject to the provisions of the license.

[PBrennick]

To avoid confusion, my last posting is because he said he used V7 of ml.exe to build the project.  That is not allowed.  That is what I was hinting at.  I think Mark is the only one to understand the point.

Paul

[hutch--]

The only reason why the windows.inc file is subject to copyright is to prevent the many attempts to commercially eploit it. To protect everyone who has contributed to the project over time all of the software is subject to the projects copyright as well as any that the owner has applied to it. I have made special provision for true no bullshit freeware to be able to use the include files but i will not allow them to be bundled with any commercial software of be relicenced in any form as they are first and formost for assembler programmers to use completely free of any charges or any licencing restrictions.

I cannot help anyone who uses Japheths include files and I don't intend to make any effort to support them as I have never had anything useful contributed from Japheth. If anyone does have problems with them, they should contact Japheth for support.

[Gustav]

> I cannot help anyone who uses Japheths include files and I don't intend to make any effort to support them as I
> have never had anything useful contributed from Japheth. If anyone does have problems with them, they should
> contact Japheth for support.

nice, but we were not talking about japeth's include files, but of the masm32 v7 windows.inc he supplies on his page and which Paul Brennick has doubted to have a valid licence, as far as I had understood. Shouldn't it be possible to read the thread at least briefly before posting?

[hutch--]

All things are possible and I have no problems reading at all but what I addressed was how I licence the windows.inc file, not what Paul may have thought about an old version that is on another site. The copyright issue was raised by Donkey so I clarified how the windows.inc file is licenced and while the equate specification belong to Microsoft, the actual file is part of the masm32 project and is subject to its licence.

I have no problems with Japheth having an out of date version of Windows.inc from the masm32 project on his site but I will make the point again that I will not support out of date versions of the file or anyone elses include file sets. Anyone is free to use anything they like but if they want support for Japheth's include files, they will need to get it from him.

[donkey]

the actual file is part of the masm32 project and is subject to its licence.

Yup, I should have been more clear about that, the file itself is copyright and is subject to it's license, the equates however as I had mentioned are not. That is if you find an equate value in the file you can use it in your program without concern of any license.

[PBrennick]

I think should clear it up for everyone.  If you wish to post your projects on your website that is something that everyone encorages.  But when it comes to tools and such, you should point your visitors to the proper website where authentic downloads are to be had.  It seems this topic is all over the place but the point Hutch made is a very important one and I understood his point right away.

[                                                                                                  ] <-- This area is reserved for a point that I decided not to make.

Paul