Re: CAD program varkon

[Gopal Narayanan <gopal@fcrao1.phast.umass.edu>]

On Wed, Jul 28, 1999 at 10:22:05AM +0200, Stephan Helma wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 27, 1999 at 05:04:31PM -0400, Gopal Narayanan wrote:
>
> > I have downloaded and used Varkon before. Actually, Varkon is not
> > GPL'ed. They do have a free linux binary. It comes with a shareware
> > type license.  There is a new project called GCAD (Gnome CAD) that
> > uses *some* of the Varkon source. Varkon engineers are part of the
> > development team. GCAD is at an early stage of development, and yes it
> > is GPLed. If there is some interest, I could look into packaging
> > varkon.
> 
> Yes!
> 
> In my new-maintainer-application I offered to package varkon but
> please feel free do it. (Actually I appreciate if you would do it. Than 
> I'll have more time for other stuff.:)
> 
> In my local installation I split up the huge directory structures so it
> goes into /usr and /var. If you're interested in my directory layout
> please send me a personal mail.
> 
> Stephan

Stephan,

Have you already started putting the debian package together for
varkon? I haven't. One needs to contact the company Microform AB for
distribution permissions.  I quote below the legalese from their
download page:

<quote>
  VARKON is protected by Swedish copyright law and international
  treaty provisions. You acknowledge that no title to the intellectual
  property in VARKON is transferred to you. You further acknowledge
  that title and full ownership rights to VARKON will remain the
  exclusive property of Microform AB, and you will not acquire any
  rights to VARKON except as expressly set forth in this license. You
  agree that any copies of VARKON will contain the same proprietary
  notices which appear on and in VARKON. You are granted the right to
  use and to make an unlimited number of copies of the SHAREWARE
  version of VARKON. You may not decompose, disassemble, reverse
  engineer, or alter any of the binary files in the package. This
  software is provided as SHAREWARE and cannot be sold or be bundled
  with any commercial package or distributed by itself or accompanying
  books or magazines without express written permission from Microform
  AB. Microform AB accepts no responsibility for damages resulting
  from the use of this product and makes no warranty or
  representation, either express or implied, including but not limited
  to, any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a
  particular purpose. This software is provided "AS IS", and you, its
  user, assume all risks when using it. By installing the SHAREWARE
  version of VARKON the user implicitly agrees with the utilization
  rules described in this file.
</quote>

I think the packaging itself does not look too complicated, but some
initial work is necessary to resolve copyright issues. I was more
inclined to wait for gCAD to come up to a higher level of
sophistication to integrate into Debian. So I am not going to announce
a formal ITP yet for Varkon. I am a little busy right now with work of
the paid kind :-).  If it will help your application, please go for
it.

Gopal.

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Gopal Narayanan                          Ph #: (413) 545 0925
Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory Fax#: (413) 545 4223
University of Massachusetts              e-mail: gopal@fcrao1.phast.umass.edu
Amherst MA 01003
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