License
MAME is available at no cost, including its source code. Its software license is a BSD-derivative copyleft license in that redistributions of modified versions (derivative works) must include the complete corresponding source code. However, the license states that "redistributions may not be sold, nor may they be used in a commercial product or activity". The main goal of this is to prevent arcade operators from installing MAME cabinets and profiting from the works of the original manufacturers of the game. Due to the prohibition on commercial distribution MAME does not fulfill the criteria of free software as defined by the Free Software Foundation; nor does it meet the conditions of the Open Source Definition.
The MAME development team encourages people to submit their work back to the main source tree; however changes that are viewed as detracting from emulation accuracy (hacks) are not accepted. Experimental features such as netplay are also not accepted as of yet. Derivative builds such as MAMEUIFX and MAMEHub/ClientServerMAME have been developed to cater for users desiring such features.
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