Bas Zoetekouw wrote: > You wrote: > >> The license is at http://root.cern.ch/root/License.html. I'm assuming the >> specific cause of concern is: >> >> "Additionally, the authors grant permission to modify this software and its >> documentation for any purpose, provided that such modifications are not >> distributed without the explicit consent of the authors" > > Even worse, it apparently links against Xclass (LGPL) and Cernlib (GPL) > libraries[1], while the above license it clearly GPL- (and possibly(?) LGPL-) > incompatible. Theredore, it cannot even be legally distributed. > > [1] http://www.princeton.edu/~kmccarty/physics-software-rant.html
Just a nitpick -- I'm the author of the referenced page, so maybe this is my own fault for being unclear. The situation is even a bit worse than this: Root doesn't just link against Xclass or Cernlib, it actually *includes derived code* from them. And it can't be trivially removed or rewritten -- Xclass-derived code provides the core of the GUI, and Cernlib-derived code (MINUIT) provides the core of the function fitter. -- Kevin B. McCarty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Physics Department WWW: http://www.princeton.edu/~kmccarty/ Princeton University GPG public key ID: 4F83C751 Princeton, NJ 08544 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
