Re: Thoughts about gnuplot license and copyrights

[<tim...@en...>]

Lars Hecking wrote:

>>I hope that I have not raised a "too-often raised" problem, already
>>answered many times. I really don't want to provoke anybody. Please
>>excuse me for any inconvenience and for the noise.
>>   =20
>>
>=20
> The topic pops up every now and then. Check the archives.
>
> =20
>
Well, sorry again for the inconvenience.
I looked into archives, and the last message that I found about the
license was written in 2004 (there has been a discussion in 2005 about
how copyrights are written in the files, but not about the license itself=
).
I have concluded that Thomas Williams is the one who has to give its
agreement before an official release. Can you confirm ? Would it be
possible to have further details on his position about the license ?
Archives say that the gpl was refused. Is there a precise reason, or is
Thomas William simply opposed to a change ? Another open-source license
may fit the needs.

By the way, as the FAQ doesn't mention it, the actual position of the
author against licenses could be a good addition.



To make this thread at least somehow useful, you will find below a
compilation of what archives say.

Best regards,

Timoth=E9e lecomte

______________________

From Hans-Bernhard Broeker
Date: 2004-07-29

On Thu, 29 Jul 2004, Roland Stigge wrote:

[...]
> I find it annoying that through a different license,
> I'm not allowed to link this software with GPL programs, most
> importantly, with GNU readline.

You, me, and a lot of others.  But the holders of the gnuplot copyright
(who are no longer involved in active development, and indeed haven't bee=
n
in a *long* time) refuse to switch to GPL.  We've tried a couple times,
and even RMS himself has (allegedly?) tried.  Nothing gave.

_____________________________

From Lars Hecking
Newsgroups: gmane.comp.graphics.gnuplot.devel
Date: 2004-06-02

> Is there a chance to get the license changed, so that debian can ship
> gnuplot with the gnu readline?

 The gnuplot license? Not much of a chance. However, I think this could
 work if readline was distributed under the LGPL instead of GPL.

__________________________________

From: Hans-Bernhard Broeker
Subject: Re: gnu readline / license
Newsgroups: gmane.comp.graphics.gnuplot.devel
Date: 2004-06-02

> Is there a chance to get the license changed, so that debian can ship
> gnuplot with the gnu readline?

Essentially: no.  Neither side of this conflict appears willing to bugde.
That has been tried in the past, but never succeeded.
________________________________

From Hans-Bernhard Broeker
Subject: Ready for wrap-up everyone?
Newsgroups: gmane.comp.graphics.gnuplot.devel
Date: 2004-04-05

in case some of us forgot, the release target date I agreed us upon was
end of *this* week?

So, what's left to do that really has to be done before then?

*) Lars: contact Tom Williams (and whoever else you contacted last
   time) for the formal "blessing" according to the gnuplot Copyright
   statement.
_____________________________________

From Hans-Bernhard Broeker
comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot
Date : 28 Jul 2003
Objet : Re: copyright/license

> Sorry if this is a silly question, but I wondered if there was any
> progress/intention to try and find the original gnuplot authors and
> ask for their permission to distribute gnuplot under GPL or some other
> open source license that doesn't carry the restrictions of the current
> setup.=20

It has been tried quite a while ago (for version 3.7.1, IIRC), and the
answer was a rather strict "no" regarding GPL. =20