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69 changes: 68 additions & 1 deletion LICENCE-POLICY.adoc
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ Jonathan D.A. Jewell <j.d.a.jewell@open.ac.uk>
Canonical licence policy for all hyperpolymath repositories and code.
All contributors and AI agents must follow this document.

== Four Rules
== Five Rules

=== Rule 1 — MPL-2.0 for Code, CC-BY-SA-4.0 for Prose Docs

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -139,6 +139,73 @@ Rule 4 work keeps its MPL-2.0 header. MPL-2.0's default form (Exhibit A
without Exhibit B) is explicitly compatible with combination into an
AGPL Larger Work.

=== Rule 5 — AGPL-3.0 for Games and Interactive Entertainment

Owner ruling 2026-08-26.

Projects that are *played* rather than *built upon* are
`AGPL-3.0-or-later` for code and `CC-BY-SA-4.0` for prose, on the same
split as Rule 1.

**Rationale, in the owner's terms.** If a thing is made to help the world
practically, it is MPL-2.0 so it can spread with as little friction as
possible. If a thing is a game, it is AGPL: the intent is not maximal
adoption by other builders, and AGPL §13 is the only clause in the family
that reaches a hosted or networked deployment. Games are precisely the
category most likely to be run as a service rather than distributed as a
copy, so Rule 1's distribution-triggered copyleft would not be reached.

**This broadens Rule 3.** Rule 3 is a *relationship* test — projects
co-developed with Joshua. Rule 5 is a *subject-matter* test and applies
regardless of who co-develops. A game co-developed with Joshua satisfies
both; a solo game satisfies only Rule 5 and is still AGPL. Rule 3a
(owner-only components inside an AGPL work stay MPL-2.0) applies here
unchanged.

**Why this rule had to be written down.** `chronicles-of-slavia` and
`688-attack-hub` were already AGPL but appear in no rule's named list, so
by the previous text they read as drift — and a 2026 sweep (#40) did in
fact flatten two AGPL games back toward the default. A rule that exists
only as an intention gets "corrected" by the next automated pass.

==== Members

Confirmed by the owner 2026-08-26, verified against each repo's root
`LICENSE`:

[cols="2,1,3"]
|===
|Repo |Status |Note

|`chronicles-of-slavia` |already AGPL |Slavic-folkloric narrative game
|`688-attack-hub` |already AGPL |idle/strategy toy
|`IDApTIK` |already AGPL |also Rule 3
|`airborne-submarine-squadron` |already AGPL |also Rule 3
|`f117a-stealth-glider` |already AGPL |Conway's-Life stealth puzzle
|`f19-stealth-glider` |already AGPL |Conway's-Life stealth puzzle
|`the-nash-equilibrium` |already AGPL |6X strategy board game
|`paint-type` |Rule 3 names it AGPL |root `LICENSE` not machine-readable — verify
|`sr71-blackglider` |**MPL, to flip** |formally-verified Conway's-Life engine
|`proof-of-work` |**MPL, to flip** |cryptographically-verified puzzle game
|`road-skate` |**MPL, to flip** |retro driving game
|`megadog` |**MPL, to flip** |ethical merge game
|===

==== Explicitly NOT in Rule 5

* `knot-rider` — owner ruling 2026-08-26: despite the name, this is an
*exploration of knots*, not a game. Stays MPL-2.0 under Rule 1.
* `project-ovine` — an experimental herding game that exists as a
*proving ground* for the enaction engine. The game is the test
harness, not the product. **Not yet ruled**; stays MPL-2.0 until it is.

==== Execution constraint

Per A2, the four flips above are **manual, per-file, owner-only**. No
agent or script may perform them. This section records *what* is to
change and *why it is correct*; it does not authorise an automated sweep,
and the presence of a name in the table above must never be read as one.

== SPDX Header Quick Reference

[cols="2,3,2"]
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