Godot requires a tool called rcedit to change the application icon. According to my understanding of GPL, I believe I have to include the source code of Godot with the releases of my game. Do I also need to include the source code for rcedit?
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1The license of rcedit does not appear to be GPL, but MIT instead. Are you asking about your obligations in this case? See some related QA's as well as the license itself for more information: I am using a MIT licensed module in a closed source project. What are my obligations?– BrandinCommented Jun 19, 2019 at 9:49
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1Or are you asking if the GPL requires you to also supply some kind of tool to make changes to a part your GPL-licensed program?– BrandinCommented Jun 19, 2019 at 9:51
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1@Brandin I think the concern here is that if the OP distributes a binary with an icon modified by rcedit, do they also need to distribute rcedit (with or without source code) insofar as it's a tool used to tune the distributed binary? A recipient with just the Godot-related source code could not build the binary exactly as-is, because the Godot-related code alone doesn't set the icon to match the binary -- that's done as an extra "build" step. (I don't mean to suggest an answer here, but I think that's what the OP's concern is.)– apsillers ♦Commented Jun 19, 2019 at 16:12
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As far as I can tell, Godot is licensed under the MIT license which only requires you to preserve and reproduce a copyright notice and simple license terms. You do not need to share any of your source (or Godot's source) whatsoever, if you don't want to.
Even if Godot were under the GPL, and you did need to share the source code of your application built on Godot code, you would not need to include the source code of the rcedit tool. Admittedly, rcedit (or another tool for modifying Windows executables) is needed to produce the final binary as-is, but the GPLv3 excuses it from being part of the required source in the following section:
The “Corresponding Source” for a work in object code form means all the source code needed to generate, install, and (for an executable work) run the object code and to modify the work, including scripts to control those activities. However, it does not include [...] general-purpose tools or generally available free programs which are used unmodified in performing those activities but which are not part of the work.
Insofar as rcedit is a "general purpose tool" or is a "generally available free program[...] used unmodified" (in fact, it appears to be both) that is not part of the work, you do not need to distribute it along with your program's source.
answered Jun 19, 2019 at 18:38
