Re: Raster3D 3.0-2 packaged for Debian

[Andreas Tille <andreas@fam-tille.de>]

[I have not noticed the CC you talked about below (neither in my mail
 nor in the mailing list archive - but I think it is OK to CC my
 reply to keep the list informed.  Because you have published the
 license change right on your website I think there is no need for
 further response on the list ... even if it is welcome for sure.]

Hi Ethan,

thanks for your move to a DFSG software license for Raster3D.  This
definitely simplifies the distribution of your fine software inside
Debian.

On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 02:30:38PM -0700, Ethan Merritt wrote:
> Andreas:
> 
> I have placed a notice on the project web site noting that it is
> distributed under the terms of the Artistic License, Version 2.0.
> I have also updated the on-line documentation to say the same.
> The updated docs and a copy of the license text are in CVS now,
> and will be included in the next incremental release of Raster3D.
> I'm not sure when exactly that will be, but let's say in a few months.

OK, that's fine.  Thanks for the information.  I will release a new
Debian package in the next couple of days with the license change.  You
can always ping our list in case of new releases but we should also get
some notification by the Debian tools which are watching changes on the
upstream homepages automatically.
 
> I will of course be happy to incorporate any other changes or
> bug fixes that you might find are required for Debian packaging.
> I seem to recall several that came up for a previous release.

You can always find the patches we applied via SVN:

  svn://svn.debian.org/svn/debian-med/trunk/packages/raster3d/trunk/debian/patches

There are no real changes to the code (if you do not regard the ports
from csh to POSIX sh as code changes) but they might be of interest for
you as well.  Remark: In Debian we try to avoid extra dependencies and
thus it is good style to not depend on csh where it can be avoided.
Feel free to take over these changes or ignore them at your preference.
 
> As you suggested, I am cc'ing this Email to debian-med@lists.debian.org

So I took this as "permission" to quite you in public.

Kind regards and thanks for the information

      Andreas.
 
> 	regards,
> 
> 		Ethan
> 
> 
> On Saturday, March 26, 2011 12:44:30 am Andreas Tille wrote:
> >  
> > > > In case you wonder why it is listed in the non-free
> > > > section of Debian it is because the "Raster3D may not be sold" clause
> > > > which does not fit the Debian Free Software Guidelines[1].  In case
> > > > there would be a chance that Raster3D would be released under a free
> > > > license we would be really happy to move it to main Debian.
> > > 
> > > I am willing to have it distributed under the Artistic License Version 2.0
> > > It was my intent to do this for verion 3 of the program anyhow, but I admit
> > > that I didn't change any of the text in the distribution tarball to indicate 
> > > this.  On the other hand, I also don't think there is any text in the
> > > current source package that contradicts this intent.
> > > 
> > > For the next incremental release I will mention the Artistic License in
> > > the documentation, and include a copy of the license text in the tarball.
> > > But you don't have to wait for that.
> > 
> > Cool!
> > 
> > > What, exactly, would you like from me in order to make this change?
> > 
> > Well, I think forewarding your mail to the Debian Med mailing list
> > (debian-med@lists.debian.org - you do not need to be subscribed to post
> > to the list) the very same mail would be probably sufficient.  I would
> > quote this in the Debian copyright file - it is just better if the
> > information is public.  (I would have forewarded it but netiquette says
> > you should not publish private mail ...).
> > 
> > If you expect a minor release with a changed license soon(ish) I would
> > simply wait for this.  If there is no plan about this, I will update the
> > package with the license change.
> > 
> > Many thanks for condsidering Raster3D as DFSG Free Software wich allows
> > us to tie it closer into the dependencies of Debian packaged biological
> > software!
> > 
> > Kind regards
> > 
> >      Andreas.
> > 
> > 
> 
> -- 
> Ethan A Merritt
> Biomolecular Structure Center,  K-428 Health Sciences Bldg
> University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7742
> 

-- 
http://fam-tille.de