Recently, a new PS3 emulator was released for Android called aps3e, generating some initial excitement in the retro community among those who had been waiting for a new way to play their favourite PS3 games on Android handhelds.
However, shortly after the emulator began to make the rounds online, it quickly became clear that all was not quite as above board as initially believed (thanks Android Authority!). The crux of the problem comes down to this: aps3 is only a partially open-source emulator but reportedly contains code from the existing PS3 emulator RPCS3 (which is currently unavailable for Android), without adhering to the conditions of its GPLv2 license. This license states that any modified code based on RPCS3 must also be released publicly in full, something that the creator of aps3e has so far failed to do. There are also suggestions the project is using code from other projects too (including Termux), potentially throwing up even further issues.
To make matters even more controversial, aps3e's developer aenu, who is based in China, also seems to be requesting money to release the full source code, originally stating that they would publish the code when donations reached $5000 before reducing the amount to $2000.
All of this has led to a representative for the RPCS3 development team raising an issue with the developer on the project's GitHub, requesting that they publish the modified RPCS3 source code in full as the license dictates.
"Hello,
I am writing in behalf of the RPCS3 development team (https://github.com/rpcs3). This repository distributes binaries based on modified GPLv2 software code from RPCS3 (https://github.com/rpcs3/rpcs3) at https://github.com/aenu/aps3e/releases/tag/0.4-250204.
As such, this is a formal request for you to comply with the GPLv2 licence which RPCS3 is licenced under, and publish the modified RPCS3 source code for your binaries accordingly.
Best Regards,
Ani"
In response, Aenu seems to be ignoring this criticism and is sticking to their initial plan, stating that they won't make the project fully open-source until the $2000 amount is reached.
In the meantime, it appears that the project has been reported to GitHub, according to the Termux package maintainer TomJo2000, and is awaiting a verdict from the platform.