Ah, here it is: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/WMM/license.shtml
I don't know why I didn't notice that before. Looks like saying "some of this code is based on code which can be obtained on [link] site under [link] license" is enough. AJ ONeal On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 12:53 PM, Charles Curley < [email protected]> wrote: > On Thu, 17 May 2012 12:16:30 -0600 > AJ ONeal <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > It contains no license and was found publicly available on some site > > > > of an organization of the federal government (noa.gov). > > > > > > I get no "noa.gov" on the web or in whois, so I suspect that is a > > > typo for "noaa.gov", which is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric > > > Administration, or "noah" for short. > > > > > > > Yup. > > http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/WMM/DoDWMM.shtml > > (you can skip the registration if you scroll to the bottom after > > clicking download) > > Thank you. > > > > > > > > > > > > > Under U.S. law, source code which is written by employees of the > > > > federal government is non-copyright (see wikipedia). > > > > > > Citation? > > > > > > > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_status_of_work_by_the_U.S._government > > http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/105 > > Thank you, that is most useful. > > Note that code written by contractors may be exempt. I say "may be" > because it depends on the terms between the government agency and the > contractor. For example I wrote that memory test code as a contractor > on a work for hire basis, so it belongs entirely to NASA and would have > been eligible for release. > > > > > > > > I'm pretty sure that the government intended it to be used by > > > > companies like us to improve upon and sell it back to them bundled > > > > with our product so I don't see an issue or need to get in touch > > > > with our lawyer about it. > > > > > > You may be correct. NASA has a program for commercializing NASA > > > technology, which is where its monthly Tech Briefs publication comes > > > from. Need a *thorough* 6502 assembly language memory test? > > > > > > However, I would scrounge around the NOAA web site and see if there > > > is an explicit grant of use on the site. If so, I'd document where > > > I got the code, and include the text and source URL of the grant of > > > use. > > Given that source in Fortran and C is readily available, etc., I'd say > that your suspicion is very likely true. > > > > > > > > Meh. If it were Oracle I'd prefer to be surer than sure. In fact, I'd > > prefer not to use it. It's the government. The people in the > > government I've worked with are just as frustrated and confused as > > the rest of us (and perhaps morso). > > > > > http://www.i-programmer.info/news/193-android/4224-oracle-v-google-judge-is-a-programmer.html > > > > There's only so many ways to write a rangeCheck function anyway. > > This is true. As I understand things, you can copyright code, but not > algorithms. So I can write a program to calculate the date of Easter > and copyright that. But the algorithm was developed by the Roman > Catholic Church in the 4th or 5th century, and later adjusted for the > Julian calendar. So I couldn't copyright the algorithm. > > (Where is the dividing line between code and algorithm? I'm glad you > asked that question. Let me know when you find an answer.) > > > > > What I mean is that no matter who you are you're going to use the same > > algorithm. You function names might be different and you might > > multiply before you device, but you end up with code that does the > > same thing. How many ways are there to copy a trigonometric function? > > And one person might write a more efficient version than another. Or > other variations. And that can be protected. > > > > > > > > > > > Would you care to make the code available? I expect others could use > > > it. > > > > > > > http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomag/WMM/DoDWMM.shtml (same link as above) > > > > There's a decent chance that we'll release our code as well. > > We give away a lot of code so that our customers can more easily use > > our products. > > > > We also give away a lot of code that starts out as one project and > > ends up a fringe product that is outside the scope of our work -- > > like dropsha.re > > Cool! > > > > > AJ ONeal > > > > /* > > PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net > > Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug > > Don't fear the penguin. > > */ > > > > -- > > Charles Curley /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign > Looking for fine software \ / Respect for open standards > and/or writing? X No HTML/RTF in email > http://www.charlescurley.com / \ No M$ Word docs in email > > Key fingerprint = CE5C 6645 A45A 64E4 94C0 809C FFF6 4C48 4ECD DFDB > > /* > PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net > Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug > Don't fear the penguin. > */ > /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
