(Sorry if this is a dupe. The news.gmane.org news-to-email gateway may be having problems so I've replied in the traditional way from my email client)
Hi Sam Hartman, > Is there some reason you cannot include that paragraph in the text that > invokes the GPL in every source file? Would that not be sufficient? If you look though the source files (maxima-src) you will find that currently only three mention the GPL: flatten.lisp, powers.lisp and macsys.lisp (the third as part of the interactive text). It would require rewriting 172 files in the base directory alone.* Furthermore incorporation into the GPL preamble seems to be the only way to honour the request that "... the previous paragraph should be included in the GPL ..." and resolve the issue so people don't continue to raise how Maxima can even be distributed under the GPL. > Also, unless sections of 15 CFR have been renumbered, I believe the > citation to the EAR is wrong. I intended it for inclusion as an historical oddity that was hopefully current at the time the ESTSC wrote the letter. I only think its important to copy the paragraph from the letter to satisfy the request. But I'm open to relaying to the developers what Debian legal considers sufficient, even the status quo (I DO NOT speak on their behalf). Regards, Adam *There's also the issue that this is a relicensing. William Schelter (now deceased) decided to release Maxima under the GPL and only 144 of the files in the base directory contain his copyright notice. Some of the remainder may be essentially unmodified from their pre-GPL history. I don't like to see hijacking of (virtually) identical code with claims it is licensed under the GPL (of course I have no issue with the entire work being a derived work licensed under the GPL). Poor Example (this appears to be new code): set.lisp. The header states: ;; Support for Maxima sets. ;; Author: Barton Willis ;; Send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ;; This code is in the public domain. It has no warranty. Use this ;; code at your own risk. Better Examples: elim.lisp: ;;; -*- Mode: Lisp; Package: Maxima; Syntax: Common-Lisp; Base: 10 -*- ;;;; ;;;Translated on: 5/12/85 13:46:23;;Maxima System version 8 hypgeo.lisp: ;;; -*- Mode: Lisp; Package: Maxima; Syntax: Common-Lisp; Base: 10 -*- ;;;; ; ** (c) Copyright 1976, 1983 Massachusetts Institute of Technology ** (in-package "MAXIMA") ;These are the main routines for finding the Laplace Transform ; of special functions --- written by Yannis Avgoustis ; --- modified by Edward Lafferty ; Latest mod by jpg 8/21/81 ; ; This program uses the programs on ELL;HYP FASL.
