Gotta love fun academic wording. I think this is what they mean. If software claims to use or include the GAP transitive groups library, you cannot modify the datasets. If you modify the datasets, you can no longer claim that software to be using or including the GAP transitive groups library.
Can you reach out to that upstream and confirm this interpretation? If that is correct, there is no issue with us including the library. This is equivalent (albeit confusingly worded) to clauses in other FOSS licenses which restrict use of trademarks in modified works. I suspect my interpretation is correct, because of their wording around "claims to use or include", but if they intend for this to be a more general restriction on modification if their software is incorporated into other applications or software compilations (e.g. Fedora), that would make it non-free. ~tom On Thu, Jan 24, 2019 at 10:31 AM Jerry James <[email protected]> wrote: > For many years now, the gap package has bundled 3 sets of data files > describing mathematical structures (groups). I am working on updating > the Fedora package to the latest release, version 4.10.0. In this > version, those 3 sets of data files have been split out into > separately distributed entities, with their own home pages and release > schedules. They all grew new license terms, too. I am worried about > the license on one of them, transgrp (see > https://www.gap-system.org/Packages/transgrp.html). It reads: > > This library containing data and access functions, its parts are licensed > in > different ways. > > - In the belief that mathematical truth is universal and not owned or > licenseable, the mathematical content can only be acknowledged: Groups of > degree up to 15 are as described in Conway/Hulpke/McKay (LMS. Journal > Comp. Math, Vol 1.) and the sources quoted therein. > Groups of degree up to 30 were determined by Hulpke (J.Symb.Comp). > Groups of > degree 32 were determined by Cannon and Holt (Exp.Math.). Groups of > degree > 33-47 were determined by Holt. > > - The actual way of storing the groups and associated data, and the > arrangement of the groups, is licensed under the artistic license 2.0: > > https://opensource.org/licenses/Artistic-2.0 > > If you distribute software that claims to use or include the GAP > transitive > groups library it must include the actual data lists verbatim. > > - The functions accessing the data files are licensed under GPL2 and under > GPL3. > > > I would call this license "Artistic 2.0 and (GPLv2 or GPLv3)", except > that I am worried about the sentence that begins "If you distribute > software...". That sentence refers to the data files. There is no > code in them, just formal descriptions of mathematical structures. Is > that sentence a problem? > > Thank you, > -- > Jerry James > http://www.jamezone.org/ > _______________________________________________ > legal mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > Fedora Code of Conduct: https://getfedora.org/code-of-conduct.html > List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines > List Archives: > https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected] >
_______________________________________________ legal mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] Fedora Code of Conduct: https://getfedora.org/code-of-conduct.html List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines List Archives: https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]
