KE7IZL
Member
I was reading in another thread (this one SDR# - JUST STOP! that's now closed to new posts) about how people are pirating SDR#, and noticed some people were saying that the licensing prevents modification of the DLLs. I was going to reply in that thread, but since it's locked, I'll reply here.
Just saying "the DLLs" are not open source, isn't quite accurate. Which DLLs are meant by "the DLLs"? While the DLLs that come with the program are not allowed to be modified under the license, the API for making plugins (community created DLLs) is certainly intended for use by the community. And those DLLs can certainly be modified by others if the person who made the plugin licenses it under an open source license.
Some people were talking about it being pirated DLLs being used to add compatibility with other radios to SDR#. From my understanding though, the makers of these radio plugins were simply using the API that is already allowed to be used by plugin makers. Calling plugin makers pirates is an insult to them. And putting out misinformation is seriously going to hinder efforts by those who want to make plugins, because after reading this misinformation they might assume they need to stop making plugins for SDR# for legal reasons. Yes, some people have pirated the source code into their own projects or whatever, but that's not what making a plugin is. In fact, last time I checked, the SDR# or Airspy website actually had links to websites where you could 3rd party plugins for the SDR# software.
Just saying "the DLLs" are not open source, isn't quite accurate. Which DLLs are meant by "the DLLs"? While the DLLs that come with the program are not allowed to be modified under the license, the API for making plugins (community created DLLs) is certainly intended for use by the community. And those DLLs can certainly be modified by others if the person who made the plugin licenses it under an open source license.
Some people were talking about it being pirated DLLs being used to add compatibility with other radios to SDR#. From my understanding though, the makers of these radio plugins were simply using the API that is already allowed to be used by plugin makers. Calling plugin makers pirates is an insult to them. And putting out misinformation is seriously going to hinder efforts by those who want to make plugins, because after reading this misinformation they might assume they need to stop making plugins for SDR# for legal reasons. Yes, some people have pirated the source code into their own projects or whatever, but that's not what making a plugin is. In fact, last time I checked, the SDR# or Airspy website actually had links to websites where you could 3rd party plugins for the SDR# software.
