Bug#731599: License of LOCFIT (permission to run benchmarks)
Hello,
we try to include the R version of LOCFIT[1] into the Debian distribution.
When studying the license statement which is included in the README file
of the tarball for the S-Plus code[2] it states:
Copyright (c) 1996-2001 Lucent Technologies, Bell Laboratories.
SCB code is
Copyright (c) 1996-2001 Jiayang Sun.
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
purpose (with the exceptions noted in `About Algorithms' above)
without fee is hereby granted, and provided that this entire notice is
included in all copies of any software which is or includes a copy or
modification of this software and in all copies of the supporting
documentation for such software.
THIS SOFTWARE IS BEING PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
WARRANTY. IN PARTICULAR, NEITHER THE AUTHOR NOR LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES
MAKE ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY OF ANY KIND CONCERNING THE
MERCHANTABILITY OF THIS SOFTWARE OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
While the `About Algorithms' section says:
... the Locfit code, as distributed, should not, and can not, be used to
derive meaningful benchmarks, either for the speed or accuracy of algorithms.
Anyone wishing to use Locfit in any kind of comparative benchmark
study must contact and obtain permission from the Author.
This requirement would restrict the freedom of Debian users and thus
would not allow locfit to go into Debian main. Is there any chance
to drop this restriction from the code?
Kind regards
Andreas.
[1] http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/locfit
[2] http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/ms/departments/sia/project/locfit/dist/locfit.tgz
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