[Rd] Copyright on src/nmath/qnorm.c

[David Heffernan]

At the top of src/nmath/qnorm.c it is stated:

 *  Copyright (C) 1998   Ross Ihaka
 *  Copyright (C) 2000--2005 The R Development Core Team
 *  based on AS 111 (C) 1977 Royal Statistical Society
 *  and   on AS 241 (C) 1988 Royal Statistical Society

The routine is in fact an f2c'd version of AS241 from StatLib:
http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/apstat/241 and http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/apstat/

It seems odd to me that this is re-licensed under GPL and copyright asserted to
be held by R Development Core Team.  I expect that if I looked further I could
find plenty of other routines with a similar heritage.  

The StatLib page states, The Royal Statistical Society holds the copyright to
these routines, but has given its permission for their distribution provided
that no fee is charged.

Why does R Development Core Team claim copyright for what appears to be work
copyright RSS?  You really ought to ascribe the copyright to RSS.

I don't think that the GPL is compatible with the StatLib license since the GPL
does not forbid charging a fee for distribution.

I guess you could come to some agreement with the RSS and I'm sure they would be
happy to help.

I think that it is important to be very precise on matters of licensing which is
why I raise the point.

David Heffernan.

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Re: [Rd] Copyright on src/nmath/qnorm.c

[Peter Dalgaard]

David Heffernan wrote:
 At the top of src/nmath/qnorm.c it is stated:
 
  *  Copyright (C) 1998   Ross Ihaka
  *  Copyright (C) 2000--2005 The R Development Core Team
  *  based on AS 111 (C) 1977 Royal Statistical Society
  *  and   on AS 241 (C) 1988 Royal Statistical Society
 
 The routine is in fact an f2c'd version of AS241 from StatLib:
 http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/apstat/241 and http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/apstat/
 
 It seems odd to me that this is re-licensed under GPL and copyright asserted 
 to
 be held by R Development Core Team.  I expect that if I looked further I could
 find plenty of other routines with a similar heritage.  

(a) We sought permission from the RSS to use the Applied Statistics
algorithms in R, and GPL was mentioned in the discussions. There is a
list of such algorithms in doc/COPYRIGHTS.

(b) Multiple copyright statements refer to _changes_ to code (RSS does
not automatically obtain copyright for our modifications, including the
f2c translation), and as such, the headers are accurate.

Peter D.



 
 The StatLib page states, The Royal Statistical Society holds the copyright to
 these routines, but has given its permission for their distribution provided
 that no fee is charged.
 
 Why does R Development Core Team claim copyright for what appears to be work
 copyright RSS?  You really ought to ascribe the copyright to RSS.
 
 I don't think that the GPL is compatible with the StatLib license since the 
 GPL
 does not forbid charging a fee for distribution.
 
 I guess you could come to some agreement with the RSS and I'm sure they would 
 be
 happy to help.
 
 I think that it is important to be very precise on matters of licensing which 
 is
 why I raise the point.
 
 David Heffernan.
 
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 R-devel@r-project.org mailing list
 https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel


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