(I am not a fink-devel subscriber, so Bill will need to forward this response if it is to reach that list). PyMOL 0.x (and beta 1.x) is unrestricted open-source software under a modified BSD-style license.
Instructions for readily obtaining the source via svn are clearly posted on http://pymol.sf.net under the Jan 14 news item. There is nothing in the license terms that prohibits redistribution of PyMOL in source and/or executable form. That is legal reality, and it will not change for the forseeable future. However, as a matter of intent, DeLano Scientific LLC's current focus with respect to the open-source code is now limited to a single specific use-case: open-source developers who seek to extend program capabilities by compiling svn-pulled open-source code under an open-source environment (primarily: Linux, Mac OS X under X11, and perhaps Cygwin eventually). Other uses of the open-source code are of course permitted under the license, but are viewed as beyond the scope of the open-source project as we maintain it. These include: (1) End users who compile the open-source code themselves to avoid reciprocity. (2) Package managers who curate, host, and/or compile the code so that others can conveniently install and use the software with minimal effort (and avoiding reciprocity). (3) Third-party developers who swallow, regurgitate, and redistribute it, as open-source or closed-source software, for free or for profit, also avoiding reciprocity (e.g. <http://www.q-pharm.com/home/manual/Introduction.htm>). We neither block nor facilitate such actions -- they are simply "beyond scope". The point is that reciprocity is, by the original design, optional and voluntary with Open-Source PyMOL. Whether such alternate uses benefit or detract from the long-term health of the project will depend on the details of implementation under real-world circumstances. Because PyMOL is unrestricted open-source software, everyone has the right to come to their own conclusion and take their own independent actions, even potentially detrimental ones. So if Fink maintainers think it is in the shared interests of themselves, the PyMOL project, and of those who depend upon PyMOL, then by all means: pull SVN source, post source tarballs, and maintain the fink pymol-py package! Right now, I do not have a strong opinion on whether it helps or hurts the project. It may do both simultaneously. Regardless, DeLano Scientific LLC will continue to view such activities with passive neutrality. If and/or when they affect our existence, we will adapt as necessary. Even under a worse-case scenario (I'm hit by a truck today), PyMOL remains open-source and can be maintained by the community, indefinitely, and with no strings attached! Cheers, Warren -- Warren L. DeLano, Ph.D. Principal Scientist DeLano Scientific LLC Voice: 1-650-283-6945 Fax: 1-650-989-4082 US Mail: PO Box 1118, Palo Alto, CA 94302-1118, USA -----Original Message----- From: William Scott [mailto:wgsc...@chemistry.ucsc.edu] Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 9:15 PM To: fink-de...@lists.sourceforge.net <mailto:fink-de...@lists.sourceforge.net> Cc: Warren DeLano Subject: Re: [Fink-devel] future pymol-py problems I like pymol and I pay for using it, but I think it is no longer effectively open-source if it can't be readily downloaded. The current fink version of pymol is essential to me because it provides a free way of using a free electrostatics program (apbs) and there are no other alternatives, so even though I pay for pymol, I will still suffer if it is no longer available via fink. If Warren would permit us to grab and svn snapshot and host it as a tarball on the fink sourceforge server, it might help. I predict he will find, in analogy to what the Grateful Dead discovered, that keeping the x-windows version readily and freely available via fink will probably gain him paying sponsors for the native version on OS X in the long run. I use pymol to generate most of my figures for publications, and Science and Cell charge me out the wazoo for these, so a few hundred bucks for the software that permits me to make them isn't such a huge burden. Other heavy users/addicts would likely come to the same conclusion.
