[GRASSLIST:2677] Re: grasslinks for grass5

Bernhard Reiter bernhard at intevation.de
Tue Nov 20 19:54:56 EST 2001


Hi everybody,

it would be great to have a clarification of the license
of GRASSLinks 3.1.


On Tue, Nov 20, 2001 at 04:25:14PM -0800, Len Coop wrote:
> As the person who maintains grasslinks at Regis, could you
> respond/comment on Bernhard's objections concerning the
> usage of GRASSLinks 3.1. Can it in fact (by license) NOT
> be used with GRASS 5.0 or any GPL software?
> 
> Looking from the other direction, the GPL license of GRASS 5.x
> does NOT interfere with using it with non-GPL software,

The question is how dependend other code is on GRASS.
If it does form a larger application.
It the depenceny is strong the immunisation effect of the GNU GPL
should work. This is an effect of USA copyright law.
In this situation I think that chances are high that GRASSLinks 3.1 
will be considered to form a larger project and that would mean that
it has to comply with the GRASS license.

Please understand that I do not want to play down the work
that you and other developers have done on GRASSLinks.
GRASS history has seen many use of GRASS code without the free
software base of GRASS getting much back from it and confusing users.
To be strict about GRASS' status as Free Software is to ensure its
long term availablity and therefore the freedom to use modern GRASS
version for all users in the future. GRASS development has
accelerated significantly since we made sure it is Free Software and
stays this way, even if we had to reject some code contributions.

> otherwise we would all be in jail or prison camps or something!

Any violation of the GPL that I have been aware of has been dealt with.
A useful resource is http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html.
(Your reference to "prison camps" seems to downgrade the US legal system
a bit too much in my eyes.)

> If GRASS were commercial AND GRASSLINKS were incorporated INTO
> GRASS then there would be a problem, but neither of those conditions
> is true. 

GRASS is (also) commercial.
It is not proprietory, but is has commerical grade code and you can
buy commercial support and service for it. Some programmers earn
money developing GRASS.

> PS GRASSLinks 2.5 source was available last time I checked.

I would appreciate a pointer or a copy, 
I did not much time on searching around and 
might have looked in the wrong places. 

Regards,
	Bernhard

> 
> Bernhard Reiter wrote:
> > 
> > Hi Len,
> > 
> > just read the license for GRASSLinks 3.1 I could find:
> >         http://ippc2.orst.edu/glinks/gl_copyright.html
> > 
> > It is not Free Software and therefor _not compatible_
> > with the license of GRASS.
> > You cannot use it with modern GRASS version.
> > 
> > If we need GRASSLinks 3.1 functionality somebody has to reimplement it.  :(
> > 
> > | GRASSLinks Copyright Notice and Disclaimer
> > |
> > | Copyright (c) 1994-98
> > | Susan M. Huse and The Regents of the University of California
> > | All rights reserved.
> > |
> > | Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and
> > | its documentation for educational, research and non-profit purposes,
> > | without fee, and without a written agreement is hereby granted,
> > | provided that the above copyright notice, this paragraph and the
> > | following three paragraphs appear in all copies.
> > |
> > | Permission to incorporate this software into commercial products may
> > | be obtained by contacting the University of California.
> > 
> > It looks like GRASSLinks 2.5 is under GPL and can be used with
> > modern GRASS versions, according to:
> > 
> > http://gisws.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/grasslinks/copyright.html
> > 
> > | GRASSLinks Copyright Information
> > | Copyright (c) 1994 Susan M. Huse
> > | (Based on the GNU General Public License, 2/1989)
> > 
> > I have not fully compared it to the GNU GPL v2 which would be
> > necessary beofre using it with GRASS under GNU GPL.
> > Additionally I do not have a copy of the GRASSLinks 2.5 source code.
> > So I cannot help Alex.
> > 
> > Regards,
> >         Bernhard
> > 
> > On Mon, Nov 19, 2001 at 10:16:29AM -0800, Len Coop wrote:
> > > I have begun some significant improvements to Berkeley/Regis
> > > GRASSLinks 3.1 (single perl script), including the new
> > > features/abilities listed below. I am planning to continue these
> > > improvements for at least a year and am contemplating writing
> > > major grants to support the effort. I have not "packaged" the
> > > current changes yet but could hopefully get to that fairly soon.
> > > Eventually I would like to incorporate the additional features of
> > > GRASSLinks 2.5, which remains shell script based, and can be seen at
> > > http://gisws.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/grasslinks/
> > >
> > > The Regis Perl script Glinks 3.1 is better engineered/programed
> > > than the many small shell scripts approach, IMO, and find is has
> > > great potential for updates (unless you dont like Perl, but I do
> > > like Perl).
> > >
> > > The problem with Glinks 3.1 (
> > > http://www.regis.berkeley.edu/glinks/ ), is that installation is
> > > rather tricky. Making it easier is a #1 priority. My own
> > > in-development GRASSLinks site is at
> > > http://ippc2.orst.edu/glinks
> > >
> > > Regis has not done much with GRASSLinks since 1998 or so and seems
> > > to be working more with ARCIMS these days.
> > >
> > > I am thinking that future GRASSLinks development could be shared
> > > via sourceforge.
> > 
> > > > I'm looking for the source code and documentation for the latest and
> > > > greatest grasslinks for grass5, I'd greatly appreciate any direction as to
> > > > where I can find this.
> http://osu.orst.edu/dept/entomology/coopl

-- 
Professional Service around Free Software                (intevation.net)  
The FreeGIS Project                                         (freegis.org)
Association for a Free Informational Infrastructure            (ffii.org)
FSF Europe                                            	  (fsfeurope.org)
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