Hi all, I am interested in packaging the ROOT analysis software [1]. The license is available here [2] and reads as follows:
----- (start license) The authors hereby grant permission to use, copy, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose, provided that existing copyright notices are retained in all copies and that this notice is included verbatim in any distributions. Additionally, the authors grant permission to modify this software and its documentation for any purpose, provided that such modifications are not distributed without the explicit consent of the authors and that existing copyright notices are retained in all copies. Users of the software are asked to feed back problems, benefits, and/or suggestions about the software to the ROOT Development Team ([EMAIL PROTECTED]). Support for this software - fixing of bugs, incorporation of new features - is done on a best effort basis. All bug fixes and enhancements will be made available under the same terms and conditions as the original software, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR DISTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, ITS DOCUMENTATION, OR ANY DERIVATIVES THEREOF, EVEN IF THE AUTHORS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. THE AUTHORS AND DISTRIBUTORS SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS, AND THE AUTHORS AND DISTRIBUTORS HAVE NO OBLIGATION TO PROVIDE MAINTENANCE, SUPPORT, UPDATES, ENHANCEMENTS, OR MODIFICATIONS. ----- (end license) Clearly the license is non-free due to the requirement that modified versions not be distributed without the permission of the authors. My question is this: if I were to obtain permission from the authors for Debian to distribute packaged binaries of Root, would that be sufficient for it to go into non-free? As a side issue, a few non-essential programs in the Root tree link to Cernlib libraries, which are GPL [3]. Hence if those programs are not GPL themselves, they cannot legally be distributed, correct? (Is this true for both statically and dynamically linked binaries?) If it is OK to package the remainder of Root, I will mention this to upstream. Thanks in advance, --Kevin [1] http://root.cern.ch [2] http://root.cern.ch/root/License.html [3] http://wwwinfo.cern.ch/asd/cernlib/conditions.html -- Kevin McCarty Physics Department [EMAIL PROTECTED] Princeton University www.princeton.edu/~kmccarty Princeton, NJ 08544
