The 'Make and Play' version is essentially an alternate asset pack with community-produced levels.
However, the initial exception (which I submitted a PR to remove after the previous email) stated the following: Permission has been granted for Debian to supply prebuilt binaries (packages) in their [repositories](https://www.debian.org/distrib/packages) for both the original game and the Make And Play Edition. In addition to the License and Exception in this repository, display the following text in a relevant area of the packaging system (ie. Debian -- in the package description) to make it clear that this is an exception: "VVVVVV is a commercial game! The author has given special permission to make this port available for free. If you enjoy the game, please consider purchasing a copy at [thelettervsixtim.es](http://thelettervsixtim.es)." Note that this exception cites both the 'original game' and 'Make and Play'. I'd have probably focused on packaging the original game assets. The original commit is here: https://github.com/TerryCavanagh/VVVVVV/commit/512a9b7150afd451c2e06e16e55d28b961c2fc32 -- Ben On Thursday, November 13th, 2025 at 11:43 PM, Walter Landry <[email protected]> wrote: > Mihai Moldovan [email protected] writes: > > > * On 11/11/25 23:21, computermouth wrote: > > > > > I contacted the author to see if they would be open to changing the > > > license to something like CC-BY-SA. They said the best they could do > > > at this time is to add Debian to the list of exceptions granted by > > > the file linked below. > > > > The short answer is that this won't be good enough. > > > > Even data in non-free must be freely redistributable, including > > non-discrimination of endeavor. > > > I do not think that is true. There are things in non-free that > discriminate on endeavor. For example, here is something that can not > be use commercially. > > https://metadata.ftp-master.debian.org/changelogs//non-free/m/mame-extra/mame-extra_0.250-1_copyright > > The only real condition for non-free is that Debian can distribute it on > their mirrors. So a license that prevents mirrors from hosting > competitors would be a problem. > > The problem here is the exact wording of the exception. > > There is an important general exception: if you're compiling a Make > and Play version of the game, then you can you freely distribute the > game's assets. > > The term 'Make and Play' is a bit fuzzy to me. Does that mean you can > only distribute it with those exact assets? If we got some clarity > on exactly what that means, then it might work for Debian. > > For posterity, I am including the licenses below. > > Cheers, > Walter Landry > > ================== > > VVVVVV's source code is made available under a custom > license. Basically, you can compile yourself a copy, for free, for > personal use. But if you want to distribute a compiled version of the > game, you might need permission first. See the License exceptions page > for more information. > > VVVVVV Source Code License v1.0 > > Last updated on January 7th, 2020. > > This repo contains the source code for VVVVVV, including all level > content and text from the game. It does not, however, contain any of the > icons, art, graphics or music for the game, which are still under a > proprietary license. For personal use, you can find these assets for > free in the Make and Play Edition. > > If you are interested in distributing work that falls outside the terms > in the licence below, or if you are interested in distributing work that > includes using any part of VVVVVV not included in this repo then please > get in touch - we can discuss granting a licence for that on a case by > case basis. The purpose of making the contents of this repo available is > for others to learn from, to inspire new work, and to allow the creation > of new tools and modifications for VVVVVV. > > This software available from here is provided 'as-is', without any > express or implied warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable > for any claim, damages or other liability arising from the use or in > connection with this software. All materials in the repo, with the > exception of the contents of the "third_party" directory, are copyright > of Terry Cavanagh © 2010-2020. > > Permission is granted to anyone to use this software and to alter it and > redistribute it freely, subject to the following restrictions: > > You may not alter or redistribute this software in any manner that > is primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or > private monetary compensation. This includes, but is not limited to, > selling altered or unaltered versions of this software, or including > advertisements of any kind in altered or unaltered versions of this > software. > > The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not > claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software > in a product, you are required to include an acknowledgement in the > product that this software is the copyright of Terry Cavanagh and is > based on the VVVVVV source code. > > Altered source/binary versions must be plainly marked as such, and > must not be misrepresented as being the original software. > > You must not distribute any materials from the game which are not > included in this repo unless approved by us in writing. > > This notice may not be removed or altered from any source/binary > distribution. > > ---------------- > > VVVVVV's source code is made available under a custom license, which > states that you must not distribute any materials from the game > (i.e. the game's assets) which are not included in this repo unless > approved by us in writing. In general, if you're interested in creating > something that falls outside the license terms, get in touch with Terry! > > There is an important general exception: if you're compiling a Make and > Play version of the game, then you can you freely distribute the game's > assets. > > The following is a list of projects which have been given permission by > Terry to distribute the assets with distributions of the game, and under > what conditions. > > Exceptions granted to the VVVVVV source code license
