[SciPy-dev] Starting a datasets package, again

[David Cournapeau]

Hi,

    Following the recent discussion about datasets, licensing and 
inclusion in scipy, I sent several email to people I believe to be 
copyright holders for some data to get their authorization. As I am 
receiving answers, I would like to start a package for datasets in scipy 
or scikits. Robert proposed a convention for such packages a few weeks 
ago: 
http://projects.scipy.org/pipermail/scipy-dev/2007-April/006981.html. 
Basically, there would be a package scipydata with subpackages, one per 
dataset (ala scikits if I understand correctly). When time allow, some 
utilities for downloading, caching, etc... datasets could be 
implemented, but I guess that as long as we agree on the interface, this 
does not be to be done now.

Would it be ok to create such a packages the next few days with the 
incoming data ? I think that starting the actual package may encourage 
other people to join the wagon. Concerning the license, if the copyright 
holder requires to be cited in the sources, is it OK (I am a bit 
confused because modified BSD does not require to keep the 
acknowledgments, so I am not sure exactly how to apply it correctly in 
this case) ?

    cheers,

    David