Hi again, I forgot to comment on a few things.
On Sun, 2005-08-14 at 09:08 -0400, Kevin McCarty wrote: > Hi Christian, > > On 8/13/05, Christian Holm Christensen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: ... > By the way, to answer a point you raised in this email on root-talk: > http://root.cern.ch/root/roottalk/roottalk05/1772.html > > > The exact license of Minuit (not CERNLIB - but Minuit) > > is actually very restrictive (see > > http://wwwasdoc.web.cern.ch/wwwasdoc/minuit/node1.html). > > I'm not sure how Kevin worked around that one. > > My understanding is that since CERN has sole copyright over Minuit (as > stated on the page you cite), Minuit, as part of Cernlib, is included > in the relicensing of Cernlib to GPL stated here: > http://cernlib.web.cern.ch/cernlib/conditions.html If you think this > is incorrect, please say so and I can email Ian McLaren to ask for a > clarification. To me, it's not entirely clear just what licence cover use of Minuit. As you know, CERNLIB has in the past re-licensed software rather brutally. Checking with Ian McLaren is probably not a bad idea. If you get a reply, please forward that to me and perhaps Fons too. > > My biggest concern, regarding ROOT and legal issues, is the fact that > > ROOT depends on certain TTF fonts, and these are either in the > > msttcorefonts package, or there's no package for them in Debian > > (symol.ttf, for example). With some minimal tweaking, ROOT could use > > the TTF of freefonts or something like that. However, that's a source > > code change, and one would need permission to redistribute that. > > Not once the license is fixed :-) Alternatively, it should be OK for > ROOT to depend upon msttcorefonts if the root packages are placed in > contrib or non-free (depending upon the ROOT licensing status). I'm > pretty sure that use of fonts doesn't qualify as "linking" so it > should be legit for a Free Software program to use Microsoft fonts. > However I'd really prefer to see the TTF code added so ROOT could go > into main -- it has a lot of advantages over contrib, such as > automatic buildd compilation. The buildd point is _very_ attractive to ROOT. This reminds me of another issue concerning ROOT. Currently, I've only tested the ROOT packaging scripts on Debian GNU/Linux on a i386 chip. I've previously ported ROOT to Debian GNU/Hurd, but I haven't tried it in a while. However, ROOT build on many a platforms, including ia64, Sparc, Alpha, and so on. However, it is assumed that if you are building for say a Sparc chip, you're using Solaris, and so forth. It'd be interesting to see what chips ROOT build on, assuming the normal `linux' configuration. If anyone out there's using some `port' other than GNU/Linux on i386, of Debian, could you please give it a whirl to see if it works? Thanks. Concerning fonts. I've one implemented a patch that did some hard-coded alternatives stuff, but it wasn't very nice. Something like that could be revived. The best option will be if upstream is changed. > > Kevin, if ROOT changes the license, will you sponsor the packages? > > I am still waiting in the NM queue so I can't sponsor anything (yet). OK. > I'm sure a current DD will be happy to upload the packages once they > are finished and legally clear. OK. > That brings up the matter of whose packages get uploaded. :-) I > really suggest that you and Ricardo work together on the packaging, > especially since he already has a place to host the .debs. If the > license is fixed soon, probably the 4.04 packages will go into Debian > first. So it would be nice if you two can ensure that upgrades from > the 4.04 packages to the ones in ROOT CVS are smooth. Don't forget > about soname issues! As always, I'll be happy to look over the > packaging work in my spare time, but can't contribute substantially > until my thesis is done (another month or two). > > best regards, > -- ___ | Christian Holm Christensen |_| | ------------------------------------------------------------- | | Address: Sankt Hansgade 23, 1. th. Phone: (+45) 35 35 96 91 _| DK-2200 Copenhagen N Cell: (+45) 24 61 85 91 _| Denmark Office: (+45) 353 25 404 ____| Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: www.nbi.dk/~cholm | | -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
