That seems like the perfect language.

 -- John

On Mar 24, 2014, at 9:16 AM, Ted Fujimoto <[email protected]> wrote:

> OK. How about asking if I could assist them on a Julia version under an MIT 
> license? The result is the same but I guess language does make a difference...
> 
> On Monday, March 24, 2014 9:08:23 AM UTC-7, John Myles White wrote:
> I think Tom’s point is that most people prefer that you assist them rather 
> than offer them the chance to assist you.
> 
>  — John
> 
> On Mar 24, 2014, at 8:58 AM, Ted Fujimoto <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
>> I probably was not clear in my response to Jake but what I meant was that I 
>> would ask the authors if they wanted to use the GPL because they felt that 
>> license was most appropriate. If not, I would then give them the choice to 
>> assist me at any level they choose with a Julia version of their package 
>> under an MIT license (since they are academics, my guess is that they would 
>> want to be a part of popularizing their work with different versions), and 
>> they can decline to help if they choose to do so. I think it would be best 
>> not to keep them in the dark.
>> 
>> On Monday, March 24, 2014 4:47:08 AM UTC-7, tshort wrote:
>> Instead of asking the package authors to do extra work, it might be 
>> better to offer to convert their package to a Julia package. Then, you 
>> can ask the authors if the converted package could be released with an 
>> MIT license. 
>> 
>> On Mon, Mar 24, 2014 at 2:18 AM, Ted Fujimoto <[email protected]> wrote: 
>> > Thanks Jake! I'll also ask if they are willing to participate in the Julia 
>> > community by implementing a Julia version too! :) 
>> > 
>> > 
>> > On Sunday, March 23, 2014 6:14:33 PM UTC-7, Jake Bolewski wrote: 
>> >> 
>> >> Another strategy is to contact the authors directly and ask them if they 
>> >> would consider relicensing their work.  Many people do not really 
>> >> consider 
>> >> the implications of choosing one license over another and just go with a 
>> >> default. 
>> >> 
>> >> On Sunday, March 23, 2014 8:59:58 PM UTC-4, John Myles White wrote: 
>> >>> 
>> >>> Yes, including the same GPL-3 license is sufficient if you've derived 
>> >>> your work from a GPL-3 project. You may also need to include the 
>> >>> original 
>> >>> headers of the files if they contain attribution information that you 
>> >>> are 
>> >>> required to preserve. 
>> >>> 
>> >>> I don't think there's anything dishonest about creating a GPL-3 package. 
>> >>> If you would like to release something under a permissive license, 
>> >>> you'll 
>> >>> have to implement your code from scratch without ever reading any of the 
>> >>> code from a GPL or closed-source implementation. 
>> >>> 
>> >>> What's most beneficial depends on context. Many businesses prohibit GPL 
>> >>> software, so many people in the Julia (and Python) communities 
>> >>> intentionally 
>> >>> produce MIT or BSD software. But Julia benefits a lot from having GPL 
>> >>> packages when there's no reasonable alternative. 
>> >>> 
>> >>>  -- John 
>> >>> 
>> >>> On Mar 23, 2014, at 1:17 PM, Ted Fujimoto <[email protected]> wrote: 
>> >>> 
>> >>> Hi all, 
>> >>> 
>> >>> I'm trying to familiarize myself with Julia by seeing how it compares to 
>> >>> other languages. I would also like to "open-source" my code if it seems 
>> >>> useful to others. Unfortunately, licenses have made this process 
>> >>> complicated. 
>> >>> 
>> >>> A tangible example: 
>> >>> 
>> >>> I am trying to implement a Julia version of the R package pcalg 
>> >>> (http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/pcalg/index.html). Like most R 
>> >>> packages, it is protected under the GPL-3 license. Also, the license 
>> >>> states 
>> >>> that it would consider my implementation a "modification" of the R 
>> >>> package. 
>> >>> Say I feel that my project is ready to be open-sourced and put it in a 
>> >>> github repository. Is it enough to follow the RmathDist.jl lead and do 
>> >>> the 
>> >>> following?: 
>> >>> 1. Include the same license in the repository. 
>> >>> 2. Cite the R package I modified. 
>> >>> 
>> >>> A more long term question: I'm guessing a better (and more honest) 
>> >>> alternative to the above would be to implement the relevant algorithms 
>> >>> by 
>> >>> looking at the pseudocode and applying it in a way that is friendlier to 
>> >>> future improvements using idiomatic Julia (if it exists yet). After 
>> >>> that, 
>> >>> open-source it under the MIT license. Would this be a more beneficial 
>> >>> approach than the "Julia version of an R package" approach? 
>> >>> 
>> >>> 
>> >

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