On Wed, 10 Jul 2019 08:18:58 +0000 MARIE Alexandre wrote:
> Hello,
Hello Alexandre,
thanks for caring about software freedom.
>
> I would like to know if the license of Gsas-II is free to use.
I assume you are asking whether software solely licensed under
the quoted terms may comply with the DFSG.
> Here is the license :
> ______________________________________________________________________________________
> General Structure Analysis System - II (GSAS-II)
> OPEN SOURCE LICENSE
This looks like a license specifically designed for one single software
package. Not a good start.
Personally, I would recommend the copyright holders to switch to
a well known and well vetted license suitable for releasing Free
Software (such as the GNU GPL, for instance).
[...]
> * Distribution of changed, modified or derivative works based on
> GSAS-II grants the GSAS-II copyright holder unrestricted permission
> to include any, or all, new and changed code in future GSAS-II
> releases.
This does not seem to meet the DFSG.
I think it fails to meet DFSG#3, because, if I choose to distribute a
derived work to the original sofware copyright holder, I cannot do so
"under the same terms as the license of the original software": I am
forced to grant them unlimited rights over my modifications, which is a
much more permissive "license" than the terms of the license of the
original software.
> * Redistributions that include binary forms must include all relevant
> source code
[...]
This looks non-free: it completely forbids binary distribution,
even when source is made available. It only allows the distribution
of a binary+source bundle.
This clause would even be violated by the Debian mirror infrastructure
(should GSAS-II be included in Debian), unless the source were bundled
inside the binary .deb packages (which is not the usual way software
is packaged for Debian...)!
[...]
> Thanks in advance for your help.
You're welcome.
P.S.: Please note that what I expressed are my own personal opinions
and not an official statement from the Debian Project.
--
http://www.inventati.org/frx/
There's not a second to spare! To the laboratory!
..................................................... Francesco Poli .
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