Stephan Sokolow's Blog

I just discovered Desura's Linux client and, given the opportunity to have a DRM-free package repository system for my Humble Bundle games, I jumped at the chance. Of course, I still wanted to keep all my games together in one launcher menu, so I went looking for a way to give the manually installed things ...

I just discovered Desura’s Linux client and, given the opportunity to have a DRM-free package repository system for my Humble Bundle games, I jumped at the chance.

Of course, I still wanted to keep all my games together in one launcher menu, so I went looking for a way to give the manually installed things like Super Meat Boy proper icons. Luckily, Desura turned out to have a pretty simple approach to specifying icons. Just a couple of columns in an ordinary SQLite database.

Here’s a little Python script I wrote which, in theory, should let you set/change the icon on ANY game in your Linux Desura library. I’ve only tested it on local ones though.

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
"""Simple script to set icons on locally-installed games in Desura.

--snip--

Requirements:
- Python 2.x
- PyXDG (python-xdg in Ubuntu)

Usage:
1. Place inside the desura folder
2. Run `./set_icon.py GameName icon_name_or_path

Examples:
    ./set_icon.py DOSBox dosbox
    ./set_icon.py "Super Meat Boy" /usr/share/icons/supermeatboy/32.png
"""

__appname__ = "Desura Game Icon Setter"
__author__  = "Stephan Sokolow (deitarion/SSokolow)"
__version__ = "0.1"
__license__ = "MIT"

from urllib import pathname2url
import os, sqlite3, sys

from xdg import IconTheme

DESURA_PATH = os.path.dirname(__file__)
DB_PATH = os.path.join(DESURA_PATH, '.settings/iteminfo_c.sqlite')

if not os.path.isfile(DB_PATH):
    raise Exception("%s must be placed in the desura folder" % os.path.basename(__file__))

if __name__ == '__main__':
    from optparse import OptionParser
    parser = OptionParser(version="%%prog v%s" % __version__,
            usage="%prog <game title> <icon name or path>",
            description=__doc__.replace('\r\n','\n').split('\n--snip--\n')[0])

    # Allow pre-formatted descriptions
    parser.formatter.format_description = lambda description: description
    opts, args  = parser.parse_args()

    if len(args) != 2:
        parser.print_help()
        sys.exit(1)

    title, icon_name = args

    iconpath = os.path.abspath(icon_name)
    if not os.path.isfile(iconpath):
        iconpath = IconTheme.getIconPath(icon_name)
    if not iconpath or not os.path.isfile(iconpath):
        print("Could not find icon: %s" % icon_name)
        sys.exit(2)

    if iconpath.endswith('.svg') or iconpath.endswith('.xpm'):
        print("Unsupported icon format for Desura: %s" % iconpath)
        #TODO: At least support converting XPM automatically.
        sys.exit(2)

    conn = sqlite3.connect(DB_PATH)
    conn.execute("UPDATE iteminfo SET iconurl=?, icon=? WHERE name=?", [
            'file://' + pathname2url(iconpath),
            os.path.relpath(iconpath, DESURA_PATH),
            title])
    conn.commit()

I've been meaning to minimize Google's ability to track me and my visitors for quite a while now, but this post about Google+ which I stumbled across recently came as an appropriately timed reminder. I'd like to announce that every site I remember running (it's conceivable I forgot ones on free hosting similar to GitHub ...

I’ve been meaning to minimize Google’s ability to track me and my visitors for quite a while now, but this post about Google+ which I stumbled across recently came as an appropriately timed reminder.

I’d like to announce that every site I remember running (it’s conceivable I forgot ones on free hosting similar to GitHub Pages) is now free of Google Libraries API and Google Analytics (I use a private Piwik install for stats now and I can assure you I’ve dialed data retention way down). I’ve never had a need to use reCAPTCHA even back when they weren’t owned by Google.

I still need to find alternatives to FeedBurner, FriendFeed (owned by Facebook), and Google Docs and find time to replace GMail and Google Talk with stuff I host myself, but it’s a good start.

(You never really realize how much Google knows about you until you start migrating yourself off them)

In the interest of full disclosure, here’s an up-to-date list of all 3rd-party dependencies in my sites which could theoretically be reworked for abuse:

blog.ssokolow.com

• ProjectWonderful Ad
• FriendFeed sidebar widget
• Flattr buttons (Live counts require external requests)
• FeedBurner feed analytics

Vanished FanFic Archive

• Fic downloads are currently served separately from Dropbox.com
• FeedBurner feed analytics

GitHub Pages: QuickTile

• Ohloh Button
• Flattr button

GitHub Pages: The Procrastinator’s Timeclock

• Ohloh Button

Gender-Bending Index

• FeedBurner feed analytics

Fanfiction Story Ideas

• FeedBurner feed analytics

While I love a well-configured copy of Spam Karma 2 as an effortless way to keep my blog free of spam, it doesn't seem to have a way to automatically purge/expire comments after they sit in the spam bin for a while. Until I can come up with a more automatic solution, here's the simplest way ...

While I love a well-configured copy of Spam Karma 2 as an effortless way to keep my blog free of spam, it doesn’t seem to have a way to automatically purge/expire comments after they sit in the spam bin for a while.

Until I can come up with a more automatic solution, here’s the simplest way to purge all binned spam in a few seconds using the phpMyAdmin SQL query window (it’s an icon in the sidebar once you’ve picked a database):

1. Delete all comments marked as spam:

   DELETE FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_approved="spam";

2. Look up all newly orphaned comment metadata entries:

   SELECT m.comment_id FROM wp_commentmeta AS m 
     WHERE (SELECT COUNT(c.comment_ID) FROM wp_comments AS c
       WHERE m.comment_id = c.comment_ID) = 0;

3. Click “Check All” at the bottom of the results list. (MySQL doesn’t let you subquery a table you’re deleting from)
4. Click “Delete” to the right of “Check All”.

How much faster is this? In the same time it took me to purge 20 comments via the WordPress web interface, I used this process to remove the remaining thousand or so. The actual SQL statements took fractions of a second.

Still… this is a bit outside my usual area of SQL expertise (I normally work mostly with SQLite and simple INNER JOINs), so I welcome cleaner, more automatic ways to do this without resorting to a little PHP or Python script to pass lists of IDs between statements.

When trying to get a new project off the ground, there's no doubt that community is important, but from all the stuff I've run across, one of the least understood and most important aspects of doing so seems to be licensing. Your project's license is its constitution. It tells potential users and contributors what ...

When trying to get a new project off the ground, there’s no doubt that community is important, but from all the stuff I’ve run across, one of the least understood and most important aspects of doing so seems to be licensing. Your project’s license is its constitution. It tells potential users and contributors what your attitude is and sets the tone of the dialogue… and if you get it wrong, you can easily prevent like-minded people from joining you by accidentally picking a license that doesn’t actually allow what you think it does.

What follows is a lay programmer’s quick overview of the relevant terms, followed by a guide to choosing the most appropriate license. Not all of the terms are exact, but they should be understandable and that’s what’s most important.

Important: Because of the legal consequences of a misunderstanding, it is important to keep things simple by minimizing the number of licenses in use in the wild. This page lists the most popular license for each scenario you might find yourself in and choosing an alternative to the licenses here is strongly discouraged.

Terms

Derivative vs. Aggregate

The law makes a distinction between “derivative” works like modifying an icon, forking a project, or linking against a shared library and “aggregate” works like zip files and DVDs full of things.

That means that you can put two things with incompatible licenses in the same zip file or on the same DVD because that’s “aggregation”. This is a popular way to freely release a game’s engine for any use but restrict the game’s resources (level files, graphics, music, etc.) so only the original creator can sell them.

Licenses can set terms on aggregation, but generally that only happens in the kind you find in commercial software. For example, you’re not allowed to put Flash on a Linux CD. End users have to individually download it from Adobe’s site. (though that process can be automated by Linux package managers)

Free Software

The term “open source” is a fairly weak term and doesn’t encompass all of the freedoms we’ve come to expect in popular licenses. “Free software” is the older, more strict (but less popular) term coined by Richard Stallman to talk about licenses which explicitly grant these freedoms.

It is variously referred to by the terms FOSS, FLOSS, Free/Libre Software, and various others because English doesn’t have a word specifically meaning “free as in freedom”. (“Libre” is French, from the same Latin root as “Liberty”)

Copyleft and ShareAlike

A “copyleft” or “ShareAlike” license is a license which requires you to give others the same rights you received… so if you have access to the source code, you must give others access to the source for any modified versions you make.

Copyleft and “Distribution”

With one exception (The Affero GPL), copyleft licenses like the GNU GPL only require you to share your source if you share something built from it. Keep the binaries to yourself, and you have no obligation to share your changes.

For this reason, requiring end users to click “agree” in an installer is meaningless. Free Software licenses aren’t EULAs.

“Creative Commons License”

The term “Creative Commons License” is practically meaningless in and of itself, much like a “you must be human to ride” sign at an amusement park. The term refers to a large family of licenses with various properties and using the term without being more specific only makes things worse by spreading the misconception that it’s OK.

License Incompatibility

When two licenses require conflicting things, they’re said to be incompatible.

For example, the GNU GPL forbids people from imposing additional restrictions down the line and requires that derivative works also be GPLed. The license for Douglas Crockford’s JSMin contains a line that says “The Software shall be used for Good, not Evil.” (An admirable sentiment, but dangerously ambiguous) Because that counts as an additional restriction, you can’t use GPLed code and code from JSMin in the same program.

Dual/Triple-License

When a piece of software is “dual-licensed” or “triple-licensed”, it means that its creators have granted you permission to use it under your choice of two or more licenses.

While this is a perfectly acceptable option, it generally makes things more complicated and combinations like BSD/GPL should be avoided since, if you’re willing to license under BSD, you’re already GPL-compatible.

Licenses for Code

There are also various community licenses like the Python Software Foundation license and the Artistic License which you might want to use to follow community conventions.

When you are unsure about what a community-specific license entails, convention for large, popular communities is usually safe to follow. If in doubt, either dual-license between the community recommendation and one of the licenses listed here or pick one from this list that’s permissive enough to be compatible with the community preference.

Important:Unless you really know what you’re doing, don’t remove the “or any later version” clauses from GPL-family license declarations. If unsure, keep in mind that 3.0-series GPL-family licenses do allow you to specify a person responsible for making that judgement call on behalf of all contributors at a later date.

Licenses for Resources

As long as you’re not embedding them in your .exe files, your images (eg. icons), sounds, and so on don’t have to share the same license as your code. In fact, it’s better they don’t because someone might want to produce a derivative work and copyleft code licenses are incompatible with copyleft non-code licenses. (You can’t combine a GPLed image and a CC-BY-SA image into a new poster, for example)

Important: The NoDerivs and NonCommercial variants of Creative Commons licenses are not included here because they have non-intuitive consequences, don’t achieve what is generally intended, and their incompatibility with the popular CC-BY-SA variant makes them a deal-breaker for many potential users/fans.