[AstroPy] message from SOFA chair

[Perry Greenfield]

I'm sorry we didn't inform the general list, but on June 14, the SOFA board did approve the relicensing of SOFA in the form of the ERFA library that has a 3 clause BSD license, and a different prefix (not iau_ for the routine names). It is this that will be distributed with astropy. This should permit the inclusion of ERFA with many standard distributions that would not allow the inclusion of SOFA.

Perry

On Jul 15, 2013, at 7:28 PM, Sergio Pascual wrote:

> Hello, any progress with the SOFA library issue?
> 
> 
> 2013/6/14 Perry Greenfield <stsci.perry at gmail.com>
> Yes, as a matter of fact, today we got explicit permission from the Board to relicense SOFA. That will require us to release it under a different name, and using a different prefix for the routine names. You should be hearing about it soon. But they will not be changing their license.
> 
> Perry
> 
> On Jun 14, 2013, at 12:06 PM, Sergio Pascual wrote:
> 
> > Hello,
> >
> > is there any progress in this topic? I have checked today and the license text in the SOFA webpage remains the same.
> >
> > Sergio
> >
> >
> > 2013/5/7 Thomas Robitaille <thomas.robitaille at gmail.com>
> > Just for information, we are currently working towards a solution
> > off-list with the SOFA board, and will inform the list once things
> > have been settled. So no need to propose a license text at this stage.
> >
> > Tom
> >
> > On 7 May 2013 17:15, Wolfgang Kerzendorf <wkerzendorf at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > I think what Mario and Tim are proposing is very good as it would alleviate
> > > the problems mentioned by Catherine. To speed up the process, we should
> > > propose a license text and they could then see if that meets their criteria
> > > (make it as hard as possible for them to delay or refuse).
> > >
> > > Cheers
> > >     Wolfgang
> > > On 2013-05-07, at 10:45 AM, Tim Jenness <tim.jenness at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > Thanks.
> > >
> > >
> > > On Tue, May 7, 2013 at 3:34 AM, Scott Ransom <sransom at nrao.edu> wrote:
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> On the subject of the SOFA license conditions, our Board member Patrick
> > >> Wallace is continuing discussions he had on this topic last year, which
> > >> resulted in changes to the license that enabled the Debian release to
> > >> proceed.  Recent emails, which unfortunately were delayed by the spam
> > >> filter problems, show that further discussion is needed, and Patrick is
> > >> now in touch with Perry Greenfield, STScI Science Software Branch lead.
> > >> The nub of the problem is that SOFA software has to address two
> > >> conflicting requirements: (i) the insistence by free software groups
> > >> that users should not be constrained in any way and (ii) the need to
> > >> prevent "counterfeit" versions coming into circulation.  The second
> > >> point is vital because SOFA software represents IAU standards and indeed
> > >> is cited in other standards such as IERS Conventions.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> > > Regarding the counterfeit argument, isn't this very similar to encryption
> > > libraries where you want to make sure that you are using the official
> > > library and not one you found on the internet that happens to have a back
> > > door? OpenSSL and other libraries deal with this. People are far more
> > > concerned about using the proper OpenSSL than using SOFA but the underlying
> > > principal is the same. OpenSSL has a very straightforward licence
> > > (http://www.openssl.org/source/license.html) which has clearly been approved
> > > for distribution.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Tim Jenness
> > > CCAT Software Manager
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > AstroPy mailing list
> > > AstroPy at scipy.org
> > > http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/astropy
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > AstroPy mailing list
> > > AstroPy at scipy.org
> > > http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/astropy
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
> > AstroPy mailing list
> > AstroPy at scipy.org
> > http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/astropy
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > AstroPy mailing list
> > AstroPy at scipy.org
> > http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/astropy
> 
>