OpenInfreno Frequently Asked Questions

and Stuff We Thought You Should Know...

  1. FAQ Root
  2. General Website Information
  3. Project Overview, Questions, and Stuff
  4. RootWars Questions and Stuff
  5. Project Software Development Process
  6. Development Questions and Stuff
  7. Implementation Questions and Stuff
  8. Game Execution Questions and Stuff
  9. Anything Else...

2.0 Project Overview, Questions, and Stuff (Updated 26-AUG-05)

  1. Project Copyright Information
  2. GPL/BSD License
  3. Re-Licensing/Commercial Licenses
  4. Project Name, Goals & Origin
  5. Becoming a Team Member
  6. Becoming a Sponsorer
  7. Can I have the Team Run a Contest at My Conference?

2.1 Project Copyright Information

All code included in this project is Copyright (C) 2003-2004 by the OpenInfreno Team and All Rights (except for those granted by the BSD and GPL licenses) are Reserved.

In addition, this code contains copyrighted code provided by the following persons or entities (with permission):

  • Portions of the code are Copyright (C) 2003 by Dennis W. Mattison
  • Portions of the code are Copyright (C) 2003 by John C. Hummel Jr.
  • Portions of the code (including library calls to Mysql) are Copyright (C) 1995-2004 by MySQL AB. (Used in accordance with the GPL)
  • Portions of the code are Copyright (C) 1992-2005 by Peter Gutmann. (Used in accordance with the Sleepycat/BSD License)

The first two have assigned their copyrights to the OpenInfreno Team. The others have allowed their code to be licensed via an Open Source License. Under certain conditions, users of the OpenInfreno software will be bound to the usage stipulated by their licenses (GPL).

2.2 GPL/BSD License

As stated above, the code for this project is being released under both GPL and BSD Licenses.

The program creates GPL binaries by default, in that the software uses a GPL'd library (libmysql) to connect with a mysql server. If you intend to distribute binaries, you should be extremely careful as GPL does not allow this without also providing the source for those who want it. If you are distributing the binaries alone, consider using the BSD code which does not use the GPL'd library. (Right now, this code is not yet complete.)

If you are distributing the source code alone, you do not need to worry about violating the GPL, whomever receives the code is bound by whatever license they wish to use and everyting is fine.

If you are using code from this project in your project (which is allowed by either license,) you must conform with both licenses (you can distribute your code under any license, but if you use GPL'd portions of our code, which uses libmysql, then you must distribute your code as GPL. This is not our fault...it is GPL's fault.)

2.3 Re-Licensing/Commercial Licenses

Under no circumstances, except within the legal rights created by our chosen licenses, will we allow the code distributed from this site be Re-Licensed under a license other than the ones we have provided. Don't even ask! If you want to release something using another license, then follow the requirements of the BSD License and release it under another license. You may not take code licensed under the GPL and Re-License it yourself under any circumstance (and certainly don't tell anyone that we told you that you could...we are not.)

Likewise, we do not sell a commercial version of this software, nor do we provide a separate license for commercial use. If you use the software as part of a commercial product, you are bound by the BSD License, and can only use the BSD licensed code (with all of the GPL code removed.) You can, however, under the GPL License, sell this software without the GPL code removed, provided you provide, for free, the source code of said product to your customers under the GPL.

If you are confused...please read the licenses (especially the GPL,) and note what that license allows you to do or not do.

2.4 Project Name, Goals & Origin

As stated on the Project's Front Page, the name infreno comes from the latin word Infreno, which means to put on a bridle, harness, curb, or to break in (as in a horse.) The name is appropriate for this project because we are attempting to create a network of victims, which allow hackers to break in, while attempting to score said break-ins. (Also, when you read it quickly, it looks like OpenInferno.)

The project was started in 2004 to develop and distribute a client- server based system for tracking and scoring an attackers access to a victim. It was based off of the ideas used for the Toorcon V (2003) version of the Root Wars game server developed by several employees of SAIC. Most of the code for that system was junked, and the new code here was developed to run our Open-Sourced game engine. The old code used a modified OpenSSH daemon (similar to the 1.0.0 version of OpenInfreno,) however the new code uses agents located on the victim to communicate with the score server.

The goal is to provide an easy to use, fun, and reliable open-sourced game engine and tools for use in Root Wars competitions.

2.5 Becoming a Team Member

We are interested in folks who are willing to code as well as participate in running the contest at conferences. If you are willing to satisfy both, you are welcome to send an email to openinfreno-users @ lists .dot. sf .dot. net. You can also join via the SourceForge.net website. It may help to provide a quick overview of your talents and skills, as well as a list of projects you have been involved with in the past. If you are willing to code, but cannot participate in running the contest, we can still use your help on the team, especially if you have participated in kernel level or covert projects in the past for any operating system, as we particularly need help with porting our tools or making new tools available for various flavors of Unix (especially SGI, Solaris, MacOS/MacOSX and antique OSs.)

If you are only interested in participating as a goon during conferences, we may be able to use your help on a case-by-case basis. You will not be part of the development team, but will be part of the contest execution team.

2.6 Becoming a Supporter

While not directly funded by SAIC, most of the beginning work in this project was done with the financial support of SAIC.

Most of the work in the past 2 years however, have been paid for out of our own pocket, at significant expense. All hardware has been purchased by team members and loaned to the project (more than $4,000 has been spent on hardware/software/services for this project.) While this is done as a labor of love, there are a lot of hardware that we could use if given the opportunity.

If you are a commercial interest using our code for profit, we ask that you return the favor by supporting us as well. While you can rest assured that nobody will be visiting your office or home with a bat or a subpoena, asking for money, it is with your support that we can continue to work on this project to make it better. Supporters, like SAIC, are acknowledged here for their support, and we'll be more likely to implement the wishes of supporters when upgrading our code.

Support does not have to be financial, we are always looking for hardware and resources, and even having a few of your programmers join the team is great support.