[Biojava-l] nasty stuff
Ewan Birney
birney@ebi.ac.uk
Fri, 18 Feb 2000 15:44:12 +0000
On Fri, 18 Feb 2000, Jared Nedzel wrote:
> Matthew:
>
> I am unable to get to the CVS repository at the moment.
> Could you send me a copy a file header with the license?
>
> If the code uses the Gnu Public License, then we probably
> can't use it. Here's the problem. Millennium as a corporation
> does not "sell" software. However, we have large
> partnerships ($100M USD+) with pharmaceutical corporations.
> They give us a pile of money. In return, we give them research
> results (e.g., drug targets). One of the things that
> they get for their pile of money is access to our technology.
> That includes our software. So, while Millennium does not
> "sell" software in the common sense, it could be interpreted
> in the strict sense that, in fact, we do. I can't imagine
> us every "selling" a Blast parser -- we're in the drug
> business, not the software business. But we do analyze
> blast results and do need to integrate that function into
> some of our programs, and we do distribute some of those
> programs to our collaborators.
This does not apply to the LGPL (library Gnu Public License).
in the LGPL the license does not contaminent the code it
is linked to.
The mpi lawyers are correct to get paranoid about this but
they always take it too far.
>
> Under the Gnu Public License, if we integrate GPL software
> with our code, then we might have to make all our software
> open source. Consequently, the suits prohibit us from using
> some (most?) GPL software.
>
> The Perl artistic license is something our suits can
> live with. The Perl artistic license basically says that
> if you make any changes to the underlying code, you need
> to provide those changes to the community. And if you
> distribute it, you need to distribute the standard
> version and not call it your own.
This is the same(ish) as the LGPL.
>
> Here's the Perl artistic license, which you can get from
> http://www.perl.com. Sorry about the formatting.
>
> Jared
>
> -------------------------
>
>
>
> The "Artistic License"
>
> Preamble
>
> The intent of this document is to state the conditions under which a
> Package may be copied, such that the Copyright Holder maintains some
> semblance of artistic
> control over the development of the package, while giving the users of
> the package the right to use and distribute the Package in a
> more-or-less customary fashion,
> plus the right to make reasonable modifications.
>
> Definitions
>
> "Package" refers to the collection of files distributed by
> the Copyright Holder, and derivatives of that collection of
> files created through textual modification.
>
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> that must bear the fee.)
>
> "Freely Available" means that no fee is charged for the item
> itself,
> though there may be fees involved in handling the item. It also
> means that recipients of the item may redistribute it under the
> same conditions they received it.
>
> 1.You may make and give away verbatim copies of the source form of
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>
> 2.You may apply bug fixes, portability fixes and other modifications
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> Holder.
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> 5.You may charge a reasonable copying fee for any distribution of
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> yours
> (by linking); this shall be construed as a mere form of
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> 6.The scripts and library files supplied as input to or produced as
> output
> from the programs of this Package do not automatically fall under
> the
> copyright of this Package, but belong to whomever generated them,
> and
> may be sold commercially, and may be aggregated with this Package.
> If
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> the
> so-called "undump" or "unexec" methods of producing a binary
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> distribution of this Package nor shall it fall under the
> restrictions of
> Paragraphs 3 and 4, provided that you do not represent such an
> executable
> image as a Standard Version of this Package.
>
> 7.C subroutines (or comparably compiled subroutines in other
> languages)
> supplied by you and linked into this Package in order to emulate
> subroutines and variables of the language defined by this Package
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> equivalent
> of input as in Paragraph 6, provided these subroutines do not
> change
> the language in any way that would cause it to fail the regression
> tests for the language.
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>
>
>
>
> Matthew Pocock wrote:
> >
> > Hi.
> >
> > We are currently LGPL. Does this cause you problems? We basicaly want
> > something that protects us from having the code appropreated by a third
> > party, but allows anybody to use it free of charge. I don't realy
> > understand licensing (does anybody else out there?), but LGPL seemed
> > closest. There should be a header on each file that states this license
> > agreement.
> >
> > I hope this helps.
> >
> > Matthew
> >
> > Jared Nedzel wrote:
> >
> > > Sorry to have to ask this, but I have to keep the
> > > suits happy...
> > >
> > > What are the license issues regarding the Biojava
> > > code? Can someone tell me where I can find a
> > > copy of the license wording?
> > >
> > > If it is being released under GPL, that will send
> > > our suits running screaming from the room and prevent
> > > me from using it.
> > >
> > > If Biojava is being released under something akin to
> > > the Perl Artistic License, then that is something we
> > > can deal with.
> > >
> > > Jared
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Biojava-l mailing list - Biojava-l@biojava.org
> > > http://biojava.org/mailman/listinfo/biojava-l
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Biojava-l mailing list - Biojava-l@biojava.org
> > http://biojava.org/mailman/listinfo/biojava-l
>
> _______________________________________________
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> http://biojava.org/mailman/listinfo/biojava-l
>
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