Bug#595958: ITP: paml -- Phylogenetic Analysis by Maximum Likelihood

[Jeremiah Foster <jeremiah@jeremiahfoster.com>]

On Sep 7, 2010, at 17:54, Steffen Moeller wrote:

> Package: wnpp
> Severity: wishlist
> Owner: Steffen Moeller <steffen_moeller@gmx.de>
> 
> * Package name    : paml
> * URL             : http://abacus.gene.ucl.ac.uk/software/paml.html
> * License         : academics only
>  Description     : Phylogenetic Analysis by Maximum Likelihood
> 
> PAML is a package of programs for phylogenetic analyses of DNA or protein sequences using maximum likelihood. It is maintained and distributed for academic use free of charge by Ziheng Yang.
> PAML is not good for tree making. It may be used to estimate parameters and test hypotheses to study the evolutionary process, when you have reconstructed trees using other programs such as PAUP*, PHYLIP, MOLPHY, PhyML, RaxML, etc. 

Could you explain a little more about the license? It doesn't sound like it really meets the Debian Free Software Guidlines, which say; 

"No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor

The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research."

My reading of the dsfg would be that this "academics only" license would not be acceptable in Debian.

Regards,

Jeremiah