question about simple mud by ron penton

Hi,

i am new here and have a question about the software given with in the book "mud game programming" by ron penton. my question is if the code from simplemud is open source or what i have to do or ask for allowence to use it? I want to use it as base for my own mud. I bought the book with cd on a local fleemarket and thought it might be a nice hobby to start.

thanks for the answers ;)

On page 647 of the book it says "The two MUDs ... are ... on the CD ... You're free to take them and modify them however you wish, and run them on your own".

However on the page adjacent to where the CD is, seems to be the standard copyright stuff about "You may not reproduce, make copies, distribute copies ... etc.". That seems to contradict the other page, but I imagine that is standard publisher "boilerplate".

I don't know if I would call it Open Source, but since page 647 seems to give you freedom to "run them on your own" you can probably set up a MUD with it without too many problems.

I am no lawyer, this is just how I read it.

Alternatively, SmaugFUSS has MUD source you can download and use without any major licensing issues (although I don't think in their case you can charge to play, and you have to display the names of the original authors). Read their license if you aren't sure.

http://www.smaugmuds.org/

k thx,

that what you said is what confused me too. but i guess it is only for the protection of the cd in this form and not on the muds since you have the author or creators permission.

i will use simplemud ;)