Abandonware packaging

W.F.Cody · 2011-02-15 08:18:55

Hi all.

I just started some abandonware packaging - basically celebrating the nostalgia of childhood gaming.

The games currently packaged can be seen at:

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php? … SO=a&PP=25

The general PKGBUILD was inspired from another:

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=29875

It would be pretty cool with a community effort packaging all Abandonia (and other?) freewares for AUR (and perhaps for binary re-distribution by a third-party repository).

FarmerF · 2011-02-15 10:45:04

I'll take a longer look at it some other time but would like to thank you for your effort. I'll try to give a hand if/when I can.

Ps. Also consider the aur games repo: https://github.com/Arch-Games/arch-games/wiki

Last edited by FarmerF (2011-02-15 10:46:42)

W.F.Cody · 2011-02-15 10:55:52

FarmerF wrote:

I'll take a longer look at it some other time but would like to thank you for your effort. I'll try to give a hand if/when I can.
Ps. Also consider the aur games repo: https://github.com/Arch-Games/arch-games/wiki

How do I commit PKGBUILD files to this?

Otherwise, feel free to pull the ones I linked to above
When I got time, I will also make a template for packaging Wine-dependent Abandonware similarly to these Dosbox-dependent ones.

eldragon · 2011-02-15 11:47:03

wow, how did i miss discworld back in the day?

never seen that game in my life..gonna have to play it! thanks!

fukawi2 · 2011-02-15 11:48:15

The Incredible Machine!?!?!?!?

:D:D:D:D

litemotiv · 2011-02-15 12:19:39

eldragon wrote:

wow, how did i miss discworld back in the day?
never seen that game in my life..gonna have to play it! thanks!

It's cool, pretty hard though!

W.F.Cody · 2011-02-15 13:20:12

I will update the PKGBUILDs with some more interactive installation instructions later... right now you sort of have to read the PKGBUILD to know what the startup script is.

W.F.Cody · 2011-02-15 14:18:55

litemotiv wrote:

eldragon wrote:
wow, how did i miss discworld back in the day?
never seen that game in my life..gonna have to play it! thanks!
It's cool, pretty hard though!

In my installation, the discworld version does not have sound, so if someone is a dosbox expert, it would be nice to know if there are additional (SDL?) dependencies or something that can be added to ensure that people installing via this PKGBUILD have sound. Or an additional configuration step during installation?

I also need to add a message prior to running INSTALL.EXE to let people know that the packaging will continue after the setup has been finished (those problems will ofcourse not be there if there will be a binary re-distribution of these packages).

eldragon · 2011-02-16 00:57:03

W.F.Cody wrote:

litemotiv wrote:
eldragon wrote:
wow, how did i miss discworld back in the day?
never seen that game in my life..gonna have to play it! thanks!
It's cool, pretty hard though!
In my installation, the discworld version does not have sound, so if someone is a dosbox expert, it would be nice to know if there are additional (SDL?) dependencies or something that can be added to ensure that people installing via this PKGBUILD have sound. Or an additional configuration step during installation?
I also need to add a message prior to running INSTALL.EXE to let people know that the packaging will continue after the setup has been finished (those problems will ofcourse not be there if there will be a binary re-distribution of these packages).

i did get sound, just run configure and use sound balster 16 or sound blaster compatible whenever asked

but i cant save games...whatever i do, the list appears empty... ive already created the SAVE folder but the list always appears empty when trying to load a savegame...clues?

W.F.Cody · 2011-02-16 04:15:46

eldragon wrote:

i did get sound, just run configure and use sound balster 16 or sound blaster compatible whenever asked
but i cant save games...whatever i do, the list appears empty... ive already created the SAVE folder but the list always appears empty when trying to load a savegame...clues?

Interesting... the nicest and cleanest would ofcourse be a per-user SAVE folder.

I will try to dig into this script:
https://github.com/fleger/fleger_pkgbui … rkanoid.sh

that I got tipped about in the AUR comments. It looks interesting. Thanks everybody for your feedback!

eldragon · 2011-02-16 10:34:03

W.F.Cody wrote:

eldragon wrote:
i did get sound, just run configure and use sound balster 16 or sound blaster compatible whenever asked
but i cant save games...whatever i do, the list appears empty... ive already created the SAVE folder but the list always appears empty when trying to load a savegame...clues?
Interesting... the nicest and cleanest would ofcourse be a per-user SAVE folder.
I will try to dig into this script:
https://github.com/fleger/fleger_pkgbui … rkanoid.sh
that I got tipped about in the AUR comments. It looks interesting. Thanks everybody for your feedback!

oh, i didnt use your aur package, i just ran dosbox on my own in my home where i have the discworld game installed. i think this might be a game thing rather than you script.

W.F.Cody · 2011-02-16 15:54:06

eldragon wrote:

oh, i didnt use your aur package, i just ran dosbox on my own in my home where i have the discworld game installed. i think this might be a game thing rather than you script.

Oh ok. Thanks anyway. If you figure out something about how to fix stuff with this game, please tell me so that I can update the AUR with this info.

W.F.Cody · 2011-02-19 18:18:24

The discworld package has been updated with a .desktop file etc...

Please comment and suggest improvements if you have any
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=46506

W.F.Cody · 2011-02-19 20:43:51

I just got a crazy idea that might or might not work: Union mounts

I have been trying to figure out a way to make each game have user-specific settings and saves etc, but most of these old DOS games are made for single-user settings and everything is typically in a single directory.

It just struck me though that union mounts might help.
The general idea, since my Abandonia packages already are started with a start script would be something like the following:

Start script for "package":
- check whether a directory $HOME/.$package exists
- if not, make the directory
- union mount $HOME/.$package over the /opt/abandonia/$package directory.
- start game from within union mount

If I understand union mounts correctly, this would mean that all changes occuring in the union mount would be saved in the user's HOME directory, leaving the system-wide /opt package intact.
Have I completely misunderstood these things, or would this be a possible solution to this problem?

jdarnold · 2011-02-19 21:17:54

I hate to rain on your parade, as I'm as big an "abandonware" fan as anyone, but This Incredible Machine is hardly abandonware. You can buy the whol collection over at the wonderful Good Old Games site where, presumably, the folks responsible for this gem will perhaps earn a small cut:

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/the_incr … _mega_pack

W.F.Cody · 2011-02-19 21:48:58

jdarnold wrote:

I hate to rain on your parade, as I'm as big an "abandonware" fan as anyone, but This Incredible Machine is hardly abandonware. You can buy the whol collection over at the wonderful Good Old Games site where, presumably, the folks responsible for this gem will perhaps earn a small cut:
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/the_incr … _mega_pack

as far as I can see, it is not the same game.

On Abandonia, 3 Incredible Machine games are listed:
http://www.abandonia.com/en/search_abandonia/incredible

The Incredible Machine
The Incredible Machine 2
- which they link for download

and
The Even More Incredible Machine
- which they give a link to buy

As far as I see it, they seem to be honestly devoted to only offering true abandonware on their site and no piracy.
As an example, Kings Quest 1 (which is a really old game) is not available in its original version since that is still sold (but a more recent re-make is available for download).

EDIT: My subjective feeling seems to be confirmed also by the Wikipedia article about this site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandonia . Their definition of abandonware is one of the strictest, so one could definitely act in good faith downloading from there.

Last edited by W.F.Cody (2011-02-19 21:58:21)

Rasi · 2011-02-20 00:36:27

Legend of Kyrandia is definately NOT abandonware. Same for Incredible Machine. (right holders are EA for Kyrandia and Sierra for TIM)
I am not sure about the others, but any Star Wars based title is hardly abandonware too. (wild guess, but i would think Lucas Arts holds the rights for this one)

Discworld is not abandonware too. It will be released as a freeware game tho, but its not clear at what exact time this will happen.
As a sidenote: Discworld runs in scummvm, without any emulation.

All of those abaondonware sites have to be seen very sceptical.
The way i see it, most of these packages are - sadly - not legally usable.

Last edited by Rasi (2011-02-20 00:48:36)

jdarnold · 2011-02-20 15:00:11

The package on GoG includes Even More Incredible Machine, The Incredible Machine 2 and 3, Contraptions and Even More Contraptions.

W.F.Cody · 2011-02-20 17:20:52

If there are programs listed that are not abandonware, I would suggest that the evidence is given to the Abandonia site so that they can remove those games from their site according to their own rules. If they do not comply to that, I suppose the right holders need to contact them about it.

As long as they stand there, however, I guess that my PKGBUILDs in themselves do not infringe on any copyright in itself, more than for example posting a URL to the site.

eldragon · 2011-02-21 12:26:45

W.F.Cody wrote:

If there are programs listed that are not abandonware, I would suggest that the evidence is given to the Abandonia site so that they can remove those games from their site according to their own rules. If they do not comply to that, I suppose the right holders need to contact them about it.
As long as they stand there, however, I guess that my PKGBUILDs in themselves do not infringe on any copyright in itself, more than for example posting a URL to the site.

even if you are legally correct, i would suggest to remove the aforementioned PKGBUILDS, just to be safe.

anyway, ive used Discworld with scummvm and it actually works better than under dosbox

W.F.Cody · 2011-02-21 12:50:11

eldragon wrote:

even if you are legally correct, i would suggest to remove the aforementioned PKGBUILDS, just to be safe.

anyway, ive used Discworld with scummvm and it actually works better than under dosbox

First the positive stuff: Cool that scummvm works! Could you point me in the direction of a how-to to package for Scummvm?

Second. I have not seen a mechanism to remove PKGBUILDs on AUR, only to disown them. For now, I think I will let them stay until people more competent (I assume responsibles at Abandonia or others) figure it out. If the PKGBUILDs conflict with some rules of the AUR that I missed, then they should ofcourse be removed. If an official verdict like that comes to my knowledge I will not object.

In general this illustrates the murky legal status of Abandonware, I think. The world would be a much nicer place if everything was open source, but we do not live in that world. I doubt that there is much commercial value left in these games that are 15-20 years old, but they do have a high cultural value (and that is also how I see the abandonware repositories - as a kind of public museums preserving an important part of our cultural heritage).

eldragon · 2011-02-21 13:05:02

W.F.Cody wrote:

First the positive stuff: Cool that scummvm works! Could you point me in the direction of a how-to to package for Scummvm?

well, just point scummvm to the folder containing the game files and you are set. it gets added to the scummvm game list. i dont think there anything special to pack. anyway, there is not much to do in terms of packaging these games. i got to scummvm in search for a way of saving my game. (which works of course).

Second. I have not seen a mechanism to remove PKGBUILDs on AUR, only to disown them. For now, I think I will let them stay until people more competent (I assume responsibles at Abandonia or others) figure it out. If the PKGBUILDs conflict with some rules of the AUR that I missed, then they should ofcourse be removed. If an official verdict like that comes to my knowledge I will not object.
In general this illustrates the murky legal status of Abandonware, I think. The world would be a much nicer place if everything was open source, but we do not live in that world. I doubt that there is much commercial value left in these games that are 15-20 years old, but they do have a high cultural value (and that is also how I see the abandonware repositories - as a kind of public museums preserving an important part of our cultural heritage).

i dont belong to archlinux, i guess a forum mod or TU will enlighten us in the subject. but in the past, they refused to package binaries for which the license prohibited to redistribute in another format / package etcetera. (some issue with winrar if i recall correctly).

even if this is not redistributing per se, its a bit in the gray area.

W.F.Cody · 2011-02-22 04:25:14

eldragon wrote:

well, just point scummvm to the folder containing the game files and you are set. it gets added to the scummvm game list. i dont think there anything special to pack. anyway, there is not much to do in terms of packaging these games. i got to scummvm in search for a way of saving my game. (which works of course).

The Discworld package is now configured to run on ScummVM and dosbox is only a makedepend.

The Kyrandia series will be updated soon to also use the ScummVM, but there some additional things need to "tick" (I currently get an error message about an outdated kyra.dat, so I need to see if there is a more up-to-date version to download from the ScummVM site).

Rasi · 2011-02-22 08:21:54

W.F.Cody wrote:

If there are programs listed that are not abandonware, I would suggest that the evidence is given to the Abandonia site so that they can remove those games from their site according to their own rules. If they do not comply to that, I suppose the right holders need to contact them about it.
As long as they stand there, however, I guess that my PKGBUILDs in themselves do not infringe on any copyright in itself, more than for example posting a URL to the site.

http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Copyright_FAQ

Its the other way round. They have to remove those games, UNTIL the right holder tells them its ok to make them available.

W.F.Cody · 2011-02-26 18:21:04

some new additions:
- the freeware remakes of Kings quest (AGD)
- the freeware windows-port of death rally

The kyrandia packages have been updated to use ScummVM. There seems to be some issues with kyra3 and sound, feedback appreciated.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-02-15 08:18:55

Abandonware packaging

#2 2011-02-15 10:45:04

Re: Abandonware packaging

#3 2011-02-15 10:55:52

Re: Abandonware packaging

#4 2011-02-15 11:47:03

Re: Abandonware packaging

#5 2011-02-15 11:48:15

Re: Abandonware packaging

#6 2011-02-15 12:19:39

Re: Abandonware packaging

#7 2011-02-15 13:20:12

Re: Abandonware packaging

#8 2011-02-15 14:18:55

Re: Abandonware packaging

#9 2011-02-16 00:57:03

Re: Abandonware packaging

#10 2011-02-16 04:15:46

Re: Abandonware packaging

#11 2011-02-16 10:34:03

Re: Abandonware packaging

#12 2011-02-16 15:54:06

Re: Abandonware packaging

#13 2011-02-19 18:18:24

Re: Abandonware packaging

#14 2011-02-19 20:43:51

Re: Abandonware packaging

#15 2011-02-19 21:17:54

Re: Abandonware packaging

#16 2011-02-19 21:48:58

Re: Abandonware packaging

#17 2011-02-20 00:36:27

Re: Abandonware packaging

#18 2011-02-20 15:00:11

Re: Abandonware packaging

#19 2011-02-20 17:20:52

Re: Abandonware packaging

#20 2011-02-21 12:26:45

Re: Abandonware packaging

#21 2011-02-21 12:50:11

Re: Abandonware packaging

#22 2011-02-21 13:05:02

Re: Abandonware packaging

#23 2011-02-22 04:25:14

Re: Abandonware packaging

#24 2011-02-22 08:21:54

Re: Abandonware packaging

#25 2011-02-26 18:21:04

Re: Abandonware packaging

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