On 10/10/2014 10:14 PM, Fons Adriaensen wrote:
Hello all,
Today I got an email of a user asking me to help him make a plugin
called 'zitaretuner' work. I never wrote such a plugin, and I didn't
even know it existed. So I can't help this user.
Of course this made me curious, and I managed to get a copy of
the source code of this lv2 plugin. And I wasn't very amused.
As expected it's based on zita-at1, and again a complete disaster.
The DSP code of zita-at1 is written as a neat self-contained C++
class with a very clean interface, and this is done explicitly to
make it re-usable.
But instead of re-using it, the author of the plugin decided to
rewrite it in C, and combine it in the same source file with parts
of libzitaresampler (instead of using that as a library as it is
meant to), and with whatever is required to turn it into an lv2.
The whole thing is just a single source file.
The same author (who is know only as 'jg') didn't bother to add
a decent GUI, relying on the plugin host to create one. That means
for example that the note selection buttons (which also double as
'current note' indicators in zita-at1), are replaced by faders.
Only $GOD knows what they are supposed to control.
And as a final topping on the cake, that whole crappy thing is
presented as if I were the author of it all. No mention at all
that things have been modified, and by whom or why. This alone
is a clear violation of the license under which zita-at1 was
released. And whoever did it doesn't even have the courage to
identify him/herself.
I've complained about this sort of thing before, and this time
I'm really pissed. So let one thing be clear: I will never again
release any code under a license that allows this sort of thing
to happen.
Ciao,
Hello Fons,
You can partly blame me, I initially packaged this plugin for KXStudio
which made it more accessible for users. I should have a) checked the
source better and b) tested the resulting binary better as it doesn't
remotely do the job the way Zita-AT1 does. Partial comfort might be that
others probably recognized the flaws too and the package didn't survive
time. I'll see what I can do to have the remaining packages and source
code removed.
As for the violation of the license, don't give in to the Jeff Glatt's
of this world.
Jeremy