In a brewing controversy for some time, open-source software for the Nintendo GameCube and Wii systems, libogc, is accused of using code from other projects without due accreditation.
Recently, the RTEMS project, which has nearly half its codebase used in libogc, has publicised the issue.
It claims that not only has RTEMS code been reused without accreditation, but that parts of the Linux kernel have been used, making the license dispute more complex.
Whilst libogc and RTEMS are covered by a permissive license, Linux has a more restrictive and ‘viral’ license, meaning that the entire libogc codebase may need to be re-licensed to GPL version 2.
At the time of writing, no official statement has been made by libogc, with the project maintainer saying he needs to speak to the original developer first.
