[AstroPy] SOFA license letter (draft)

[Perry Greenfield]

It's not so simple as that. You have to read and understand the terms of the GPL to see that there are clauses in the SOFA license that are not permitted by the GPL. Some of these are somewhat a matter of interpretation, but it's the interpretation of those that package it that particularly matters. I've heard the opinon now a few times that it's the other parties that have to accomodate the SOFA license. It's not going to happen. SOFA is a speck of dust in that universe. It doesn't even rise to the level of a tail wagging the dog.

Perry

On Apr 18, 2013, at 4:07 PM, Paul Kuin wrote:

> Hi Tom, 
> 
> That is sort of what was discussed. 
> 
> I must admit that in my mind it is completely unclear why it was declared non-free.  It does allow others its use, and the conditions are mostly in the area of intellectual property, specifically that the software as distributed is that of the IAU, and misrepresentation of the software or alteration must be clearly delineated from that of the IAU. I do not think that comes under the guise of "non-free".  "Free" does not mean "I take it and tag my name onto it", it does not mean " I alter it and say it was made by you ", I think that the problem is rather in the software distributors assignment which is to blame. Focussing only on the SOFA WG is not going to solve this. I think there needs to be a discussion of all parties involved.  It would be good if the aim of the petition would be to get the parties talking.  
> 
> Cheers, 
> 
>    Paul
> 
> 
> On Thu, Apr 18, 2013 at 8:32 PM, Tom Aldcroft <aldcroft at head.cfa.harvard.edu> wrote:
> Following the long and useful discussion in the "astropy in Debian, Scientific Linux" thread, I have taken a crack at drafting a letter that can be used as the basis for discussion with SOFA board members or other colleagues with influence.  It is also written somewhat in the form of a petition.
> 
> This is just a draft, but I wanted to get the ball rolling.  It would be very helpful if other affected parties (package managers, people with SOFA dependencies) can pitch in with more details.  In particular there are two open sections that I would hope Sergio and Ole can work on.
> 
> https://github.com/astropy/astropy/wiki/SOFA-license-for-the-community
> 
> I think anyone with a github account can edit, but let me know otherwise.
> 
> Cheers,
> Tom
> 
> 
> 
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