martin f krafft <madduck@debian.org> writes: > i just got MIT's permission to package Starlogo[1] for Debian. It's > a Java application to simulate cellular automata and large > populations on distributed machines. > > The problem that I am currently facing is twofold: First, I am not > entirely sure about the licence, so I've placed it at[2] and would > welcome comments. Essentially, it is the following paragraph which > puts me off: > > For use by members of the StarLogo Users Group. For information > about joining the StarLogo Users Group, see > http://education.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/starlogo-users. > > But having downloaded the software, I never had to join that group. It certainly can't go in main: Permission to use, copy, or modify this software and its documentation for education and research purposes only and without fee is hereby granted ... Also, you must obtain permission to redistribute the software from MIT, which would be a Debian-specific license and thus violates DFSG #8... > The second major challenge I see in the source code issue. MIT > doesn't release the source code, so I guess it is not viable for > Debian. Am I right, and should I push them to release to us, or are > there even other issues at stake here? > > 1. http://education.mit.edu/starlogo/ > 2. ftp://ftp.madduck.net/scratch/starlogo-license.txt.gz The "source code" is typically defined to be code in its most easily modifiable form, or something like that. I doubt decompiled code would quality. This makes it even more non-free. FWIW, license questions of this sort should be sent to debian-legal rather than -mentors. -- I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
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