Package: wnpp
Severity: wishlist
I intend to package ParMETIS, which is a tool for optimal partitioning
of graphs and meshes and reorder sparse matrices for to minimize fill
when using direct solvers. This tool is primarily used for load
balancing and communication optimization in finite element simulations
on parallel computers, including Beowulf clusters. It uses MPI for
communication, and should work just fine on Debian beowulfs.
Unfortunately, as you can see below, the license is very non-free, so I
obtained permission from the author (attached) to distribute it with
Debian. Also unfortunately, if I link PETSc to ParMETIS, that will
throw it into contrib; or I can maintain two versions: petsc in main
with no parmetis dependency, and petsc-contrib in contrib with it. I
don't like this, and have encouraged upstream to dual-license or
otherwise change distribution and use terms in a way which will allow us
to put it in main and protect his financial interests. But no bite yet. :-(
Upstream COPYRIGHT file:
Copyright Notice
----------------
The ParMETIS/METIS package is copyrighted by the Regents of the
University of Minnesota. It can be freely used for educational and
research purposes by non-profit institutions and US government agencies
only. Other organizations are allowed to use ParMETIS/METIS only for
evaluation purposes, and any further uses will require prior approval.
The software may not be sold or redistributed without prior approval.
One may make copies of the software for their use provided that the
copies, are not sold or distributed, are used under the same terms
and conditions.
As unestablished research software, this code is provided on an
``as is'' basis without warranty of any kind, either expressed or
implied. The downloading, or executing any part of this software
constitutes an implicit agreement to these terms. These terms and
conditions are subject to change at any time without prior notice.
If there are no objections, I'll upload within a week or so.
[Please CC me on replies to -devel, and of course, do not CC
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
-Adam P.
GPG fingerprint: D54D 1AEE B11C CE9B A02B C5DD 526F 01E8 564E E4B6
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