[Bug 2429] Review request: gens-gs - Sega Genesis, Sega CD, and Sega 32X emulator

[RPM Fusion Bugzilla]

https://bugzilla.rpmfusion.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2429

--- Comment #4 from Jeremy Newton <alexjnewt at gmail.com> 2014-01-02 01:56:28 CET ---
Hello again, I've decided to pick this back up after my abandonment a year and
a half ago.

Here's some new files:

SPEC URL:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/42480493/gens-gs.spec
SOURCE RPM URL:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/42480493/gens-gs-2.16.7-3.fc20.src.rpm

Everything is debundled, some notes:

- I disabled lzma support because it bundles what appears to be 7zip, though it
seems to build it as a library. From what I know of p7zip, it's just an
executable, not a library. I would assume he adapted the code to make it into a
bundled library. As it is not vital, I've decided to just disabled the support.
I can look into this if it's of interest or if I'm misinformed on 7zip.

- I disabled mp3 decode support as I don't quite understand what this library
actually comes from. It appears to be custom library with some code derived
from libmpg123. Yet again, as it is not vital, I've decided to just disabled
the support. I can look into this if it's of interest.

-

Also to address some of Andrea's questions:

> Try talking with upstream about his plans. I think it may be good for him to
> know there is interest in his project.

Well it seems he's working on Gens-gs II, which is definately a "work in
progress". The purpose of this is to rewrite gens gs with a QT GUI, various
improvements and higher portability by various means, such as removing 32bit
assembly code and adding cross platform support for libraries like opengl. The
developer is actively working on it, but it seems he's going at a slow pace and
I can't imagine there's a release date set yet. Here's a wiki page outlining
his progress (note he has updated it since May 2013):
http://segaretro.org/Gens/GS_II

> There is another problem I'd like to point out. 
>
> There reason why gens-gs must currently go to nonfree is because of the
> starscream license is incompatible with GPLv2+:
> http://developer.berlios.de/docman/display_doc.php?docid=1708&group_id=8591
>
> More info here:
> http://www.lutris.net/blog/2010/04/25/day-15-sonic-2-on-sega-genesis-1992/
>
> What about talking with upstream about not using starscream? After all, the
> internet is full of CPU emulators (and GPL licensed ones). An emulator written
> in C would also be great for portability.

That would be a good idea, but with his rewrite, I would assume it's a very low
priority for the developer right now. I'm sure if I approach him now, he would
just shrug it off. When Gens GS II is has a more foreseeable release, I will
approach him to see if he would be interested in using a more free code base.

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