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I did see the commit log. I believe the project could instead check in symbol names, data structures, and comments that tag addresses in the ROM. You would also

I did see the commit log. I believe the project could instead check in symbol names, data structures, and comments that tag addresses in the ROM. You would also want to group those symbols into logical translation units. The copyright status on this repo may still be murky (are the comments and symbol names derived works?) but much better than the current situation where the copyrighted ROM can be rebuilt from from the repo. Edit: I believe you can do something similar with IDA database dumps. The database doesn't contain the original executable image but instead contains a log of the IDA commands applied to the imported image. Another user can import their executable image and "replay" the IDA commands in the database.

pikachu_is_cool 12y ago
You are aware that anyone can just Google "pokemon crystal rom", click two links, and get a pirated copy, right? Literally nobody has used this to pirate Crystal.
ripter 12y ago
Have you written a program that can do this? These people put a lot of hard work into something people find interesting. I'm glad this is on hacker news because I'm interested in how these games were written and developed.
- scrollaway 12y ago
  > Have you written a program that can do this? Heavens no, it's much easier to complain and criticize other people's work. I had a feeling "being useful" is something people like OP don't actually do, and checking his online presence only proved me right. This is making me abnormally furious.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- jevinskie 12y ago
  I have not but other open source projects have similar issues when dealing with copyrighted files. OpenJailbreak, for example, downloads copyrighted firmwares and then applies patches locally. They did not want to host modified Apple binaries in their open source project. They even went the extra mile and developed a library that can partially extract zip files served over HTTP so the entire firmware would not be downloaded. [0] I agree that a lot of hard work has gone into the ROM reversing. I also cannot dispute that it is fascinating! I just wish the developers could have gone about the project in a manner that would not besmirch the project with copyright concerns. [0]: https://www.openjailbreak.org/projects/libpartialzip-1-0/repository https://www.openjailbreak.org/projects/libpartialzip-1-0/rep...
  - serf 12y ago
    Right, but all you're arguing for is a shift of legal responsibility on a project that's unlikely to be bothered legally, which will in-turn add another meta layer of development for the people involved(let's build a patcher). It's illegal, yes. It's also : 1) a massive PR blow to sue fans who have taken an interest 2) a legal money-sink on decades old property that isn't producing less profit as a result. For all you know, this github could have generated revenue for Nintendo through the revitalization of interest in the franchise using nostalgia against current day software developers...
    - jevinskie 12y ago
      Agreed, dotting the Is and crossing the Ts isn't what the developers want to spend their time on. I've unflagged the article.

pikachu_is_cool 12y ago

You are aware that anyone can just Google "pokemon crystal rom", click two links, and get a pirated copy, right? Literally nobody has used this to pirate Crystal.

ripter 12y ago

Have you written a program that can do this? These people put a lot of hard work into something people find interesting. I'm glad this is on hacker news because I'm interested in how these games were written and developed.

scrollaway 12y ago
> Have you written a program that can do this? Heavens no, it's much easier to complain and criticize other people's work. I had a feeling "being useful" is something people like OP don't actually do, and checking his online presence only proved me right. This is making me abnormally furious.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
jevinskie 12y ago
I have not but other open source projects have similar issues when dealing with copyrighted files. OpenJailbreak, for example, downloads copyrighted firmwares and then applies patches locally. They did not want to host modified Apple binaries in their open source project. They even went the extra mile and developed a library that can partially extract zip files served over HTTP so the entire firmware would not be downloaded. [0] I agree that a lot of hard work has gone into the ROM reversing. I also cannot dispute that it is fascinating! I just wish the developers could have gone about the project in a manner that would not besmirch the project with copyright concerns. [0]: https://www.openjailbreak.org/projects/libpartialzip-1-0/repository https://www.openjailbreak.org/projects/libpartialzip-1-0/rep...
- serf 12y ago
  Right, but all you're arguing for is a shift of legal responsibility on a project that's unlikely to be bothered legally, which will in-turn add another meta layer of development for the people involved(let's build a patcher). It's illegal, yes. It's also : 1) a massive PR blow to sue fans who have taken an interest 2) a legal money-sink on decades old property that isn't producing less profit as a result. For all you know, this github could have generated revenue for Nintendo through the revitalization of interest in the franchise using nostalgia against current day software developers...
  - jevinskie 12y ago
    Agreed, dotting the Is and crossing the Ts isn't what the developers want to spend their time on. I've unflagged the article.