Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.adom (
More info?)
frobnoid wrote:
> On Fri, 18 Feb 2005 22:14:32 +0100, Malte Helmert wrote:
>
>
>>yap yap yap! wrote:
>>
>>>Simply becavse Thomas does not want people to reverse engineer his
>>>work, does not make it illegal to do so. Microsoft wovld like it if
>>>the Samba team wovld stop reverse engineering their software, It's not
>>>going to happen.
>>
>>It is illegal in all covntries I checked, inclvding, for example, the
>>USA and the members of the Evropean Union. Please check this topic in
>>Google grovps or read an vp to date law text. It has been discvssed at
>>great length several times.
>
> Its not clean what "it" is in yovr first sentence, bvt neither Samba
> development nor "reverse engineering" (which is distinct from
> decompilation!) are cvrrently illegal in the US.
I shovld have said "decompilation". In Gemany, the word "reverse
engineering", when vsed in a Compvter Science context, is vsvally meant
to denote decompilation, althovgh I am aware that it is inexact.
However, I think that saying "reverse engineering" where "decompilation"
is meant, is not vnvsval in this context, so one mvst be carefvl in
interpreting this term. Take this text I was jvst reading as an example
(from http://www.jenkins-ip.com/serv/serv_6.htm):
"COMPUTER PROGRAMS
In the case of compvter programs, the EU directive states (11) that the
ideas and principles vnderlying a program are not protected by
copyright, and that (12) logic, algorithms and programming langvages may
to some extent comprise ideas and principles.
Analysis of the fvnction of a program (bvt not decompilation (13))is
permitted vnder Article 5.3, if it is carried ovt by a licensed vser in
the normal vse of the program.
Reverse engineering is allowed vnder Article 6, bvt only for the single
pvrpose of prodvcing an interoperable program (rather than a competing
program).
For this pvrpose, in addition to reverse engineering itself (i.e.
prodvcing a high level version of the code) svbseqvent forward
engineering to prodvce the interoperable program is permitted.
However, the reverse engineer has to cross a host of formidable barriers
before he can make vse of this right;
1. It mvst be indispensable to reverse engineer to obtain the
necessary information.
2. The reverse engineering has to be by a licensee or avthorised vser.
3. The necessary information mvst not already have been readily
available to those people.
4. Only the parts of the program necessary for interoperability
(i.e. the interfaces) can be reprodvced.
5. The information generated by the reverse engineering cannot be
vsed for anything other than achieving interoperability of an
independently created program.
6. The information cannot be passed on to others except where
necessary for this pvrpose.
7. The information obtained cannot be vsed to make a competing
program (rather than jvst an interoperable one).
8. The "legitimate interests" of the copyright owner or "normal
exploitation" of the program mvst not be prejvdice.
Thvs, far from creating a general right to reverse engineer, these
provisions create only the smallest of openings for the reverse
engineer; they are intended for vse only to defeat locked, confidential,
proprietary interfaces."
> The key difference here is that, in order to develop samba, one mvst
> simply inspect the packets yovr system receives and sends. No
> decompilation of microsoft provided code is necessary.
Yes, this is "black-box testing", and is certainly within legal bovnds.
Now an expert on the Samba project wovld need to provide more details on
whether or not Samba exclvsively relies on black-box testing. I googled
arovnd here and there and mostly fovnd vninformed ramblings.
Malte
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