libbass for powerpc on linux; why closed-source?

[trustytrojan]

i have a very specific use case which involves running a game that depends on the BASS libraries on linux, all on an old powerbook g4 i found off ebay...
i see you guys don't build for powerpc anymore which makes sense... is it possible for you to make a build for powerpc just once so i can see if it works on the hardware i have?
on another note, i am still quite confused why the bass libraries are closed source yet are freely available to use... what's in it for you guys keeping it closed source? if you aren't making money, why hide the code? i hope you leave a meaningful response

[Ian @ un4seen]

I can't promise anything will come of it, but I will check if a PowerPC Linux build is possible. BASS did used to be available for PowerPC OSX, but I'm not sure it was ever available for PowerPC Linux.

Please note that BASS is free for non-commercial use, but not otherwise.

[trustytrojan]

ok, thanks for considering. if it is possible reply here, i'd like to get a certain project running on real powerpc hardware soon.

[Ian @ un4seen]

What Linux distro are you using, and in particular, what glibc version does it have? It looks like supporting older than 2.17 may be tricky without using a very old GCC version.

[trustytrojan]

i'm using arch linux (through a special community-maintained derivative called ArchPOWER), so glibc is definitely above 2.17. sorry for the late reply, got distracted by lots of other things

[Ian @ un4seen]

OK, I will look into this again after Christmas and then hopefully come back with something for you to try.

[trustytrojan]

any update on whether a linux powerpc build is possible?

[Ian @ un4seen]

Yep, here's something for you to try:

   www.un4seen.com/stuff/bass-linux-ppc.zip

It targets PowerPC 74xx/G4 CPUs, so will hopefully work on your PowerBook G4, but it's entirely untested so far.

[trustytrojan]

awesome, thanks for that build. but the project im trying to get working also depends on bass_fx, bassmix, and bassloud. could you build those for linux-powerpc as well? thanks

[Ian @ un4seen]

I'll look into that. In the meantime, perhaps you can try building and running the examples included in the Linux BASS package, to see if it is working.

[trustytrojan]

i can confirm the tests work with your provided libbass.so
some didn't build but that seems to be a problem with GTK library code
can you build the others? i only need bass_fx, bassloud, and bassmix

[Ian @ un4seen]

Good to hear the PowerPC BASS build is working. Builds of those requested add-ons have now been added too:

   www.un4seen.com/stuff/bass-linux-ppc.zip