slepc license

Ondrej Certik · External Since: Aug 24, 2006 Posts: 29

Hi,

I would like to package SLEPc eigenvalue solvers[0] into non-free, the
license is below. There is a line "A modified version of the software
cannot be redistributed". The debian package can be built without
modificating the upstream sources though, so my question is, can it go
into non-free? And if not, the upstream authors asked me what words
should be added to the license in order for the Debian to be able to
distribute it in non-free?

Thanks very much,
Ondrej Certik

[0] http://www.grycap.upv.es/slepc/

The SLEPc license:

Copyright (c) 2002-2007, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain

This software is provided 'as is', with absolutely no warranty,
expressed or implied. Any use is at your own risk. In no event will
the authors be liable for any direct or indirect damages arising in
any way out of the use of this software.

The user will acknowledge (using reference [1]) the contribution of
the software in any publication of material dependent on its use.

The user can modify the code but at no time will the right or title to
all or any part of this software pass to the user. A modified version
of the software cannot be redistributed. The software (or a modified
version) may not be sold.

This software is free for academic and research use. This means that a
person working in an academic or research institution such as a
university or a government laboratory can use the software without
formally requiring a license.

For commercial use, it is necessary to sign a software license
agreement. This includes all users working for a private company, even
if the software is going to be used only for in-house research
activities. A reasonable testing period is allowed before asking for
the license.

[1] V. Hernandez, J. E. Roman and V. Vidal (2005), SLEPc: A Scalable
and Flexible Toolkit for the Solution of Eigenvalue Problems, ACM
Trans. Math. Softw. 31(3), 351-362.

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MJ Ray · External Since: Jun 02, 2005 Posts: 273

Ondrej Certik <ondrej.RemoveThis@certik.cz> wrote:
> I would like to package SLEPc eigenvalue solvers[0] into non-free, the
> license is below. There is a line "A modified version of the software
> cannot be redistributed". The debian package can be built without
> modificating the upstream sources though, so my question is, can it go
> into non-free?

In the absence of any definition of what they mean by a modified
version, I think a binary package is a modified version of the source.

(This is not a new worry:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/1997/08/msg00119.html
)

> And if not, the upstream authors asked me what words
> should be added to the license in order for the Debian to be able to
> distribute it in non-free?

Permission to distribute binary packages at least. While you're asking,
why not ask for it as free software? Even one with an obnoxious ad
clause (so they get their attribution) would be an improvement.

Hope that helps,
--
MJR/slef
My Opinion Only: see http://people.debian.org/~mjr/
Please follow http://www.uk.debian.org/MailingLists/#codeofconduct

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Ondrej Certik · External Since: Aug 24, 2006 Posts: 29

> Permission to distribute binary packages at least. While you're asking,
> why not ask for it as free software? Even one with an obnoxious ad
> clause (so they get their attribution) would be an improvement.
>
> Hope that helps,

That helps a lot. Thanks. I asked the upstream and they seem not to be
against using the old BSD license with the ad clause, so that maybe
the next version will be distributed with that license.

I realized, that 2.3.2 version that I am going to package at the
moment contains the license below, which is not free, but can go to
non-free. The problem above is only for the 2.3.3 version.

Ondrej

Copyright (c) 2002-2006, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain

This software is provided 'as is', with absolutely no warranty, expressed or
implied. Any use is at your own risk. In no event shall the authors be liable
for any direct or indirect damages arising in any way out of the use of this
software.

The user will acknowledge (using references [1] or [2]) the contribution of
SLEPc in any publication of material dependent upon the use of the package.
The user will reasonably endeavour to notify the authors of the package of
this publication.

The user can modify the code but, at no time shall the right or title to all
or any part of this package pass to the user. Contributions are welcome
relating to any alteration or addition made to this package for the purposes
of extending the capabilities or enhancing its performance. Credit will be
given in the documentation for contributed code.

This package (or a modified version) may not be sold. It is freely available
and it can be redistributed provided that redistribution comprises all files
including this copyright notice. No license is required for research use. For
commercial use, written permission must be granted by the authors.

[1] V. Hernandez, J. E. Roman and V. Vidal (2005),
SLEPc: A Scalable and Flexible Toolkit for the Solution of
Eigenvalue Problems
ACM Trans. Math. Softw. 31(3), 351-362.

[2] V. Hernandez, J. E. Roman and V. Vidal (2002),
SLEPc Users Manual, Technical Report DSIC-II/24/02,
Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain.

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Alejandro Lucas Baldres · External Since: Jun 30, 2007 Posts: 1

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