Frequently Asked Questions
These are some frequently asked questions about OpenCTR.
I don’t know how to install OpenCTR for my platform. Can you help me?
Sorry, no. Our developers are too busy with feature requests and bug fixes as-is. If you need help for anything specific to you, you are encouraged to ask someone in the community for help, at 4dsDev for example.
Can I contribute to OpenCTR in any way?
Absolutely. If you are a developer, we need your help developing. If you are a translator, we need your help translating. If you are an artist, we need your help creating art. The Authors page lists who is responsible for what in OpenCTR. Several authors may have their PayPal and/or BitCoin addresses listed. You are perfectly free to donate any amount of money to them, if you wish.
Where can I contact you guys?
Look at the Authors page and decide who would be the most appropriate member to contact. Please remember that we are all human beings, and busy human beings at that. We will delete any pestering and nagging attempts to bother us.
There’s already devkitARM and ctrulib. Why did you guys feel the need to create OpenCTR?
First, let us assure you that we harbor no hard feelings towards devkitARM, or ctrulib. We mention in Credits that devkitARM and ctrulib were of enormous influence in our own work. We envison OpenCTR becoming an alternative to the use of devkitARM and ctrulib, but not a replacement. OpenCTR simply has different goals and priorities from either project, not to say our goals and priorities are any better or worse than theirs. We also wanted to create a more unified project. devkitARM and ctrulib are developed separetely from each other. All OpenCTR projects are developed as part of the same overall project.
Why is everything in OpenCTR licensed under the GNU GPL? Why not make libctr available under the GNU LGPL?
Because we wish for everything that OpenCTR does and accomplishes to be freely available to everyone, even when a creator has abandoned their creation. During the time of Nintendo DS homebrew, many developers did not release the source code to some of their most amazing applications. Disappointing to begin with, this became an actual problem when the original developers left the Nintendo DS homebrew scene. Often their work was not fully completed, and Nintendo DS homebrew was known to require patches whenever something new was released. To avoid software becoming obsolete and unusable, we STRONGLY recommend that developers release the source code for their software. The GNU General Public License does require users to publish any changes they make to the original, or any software that links with GPL licensed software. Although we conceed that we will probably not enforce the terms of the GPL in court, we still wish for developers to recognize the benefits that come with releasing source code, even if as nothing more than historical interest.