[SCILAB] License of routine rpoly.f

[Olivier Robert]

Hi

Addendum to my last email.

I looked into the sources of other popular scientific packages.
Both R and Maxima include an implementation of Jenkins-Traub algorithm.

<> R
License: GPL
sources: https://svn.r-project.org/R/trunk/src/appl/cpoly.c
language: c

<> Maxima
License: GPL
source: http://maxima.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/maxima/maxima/src/cpoly.lisp
doc: http://maxima.sourceforge.net/docs/manual/en/maxima_21.html
language: lisp

<> Octave
Nothing

--
Sincères salutations, Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Best regards,

Olivier Robert







On Fri, 5 Feb 2010 00:38:53 +0100
Olivier Robert <poutifar at gmx.com> wrote:

> Hello Sylvestre
> 
> > Do you know a free implementation of this algorithm ?
> 
> I found one used in a scientific software developped at the CERN.
> http://geant4.cern.ch
> I didn't tried the code, but it implements the same algorithm as TOM
> 493. (ie. the Jenkins-Traub algorithm)
> http://geant4.cern.ch/bin/SRM/G4GenDoc.exe.pl?flag=2&FileName=G4JTPolynomialSolver.hh&FileDir=source/global/HEPNumerics/include
> It is an open source software with a non standard licence.
> http://geant4.web.cern.ch/geant4/license/LICENSE.html
> At first glance it looks like the GPL but with restrictions about
> patents. What do you think?
> 
> The GNU Scientific Library also includes a root finding routine but it
> doesn't implements Jenkins-Traub.
> 
> Regarding the licence of the fortran routine, maybe there is still
> the possibility to ask the permission to the ACM to deliver the code
> as GPL.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Olivier Robert
> 
> On Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:13:50 +0100
> Sylvestre Ledru <sylvestre at debian.org> wrote:
> 
> > Hello Olivier,
> > 
> > Le lundi 01 février 2010 à 14:49 +0100, Olivier Robert a écrit :
> > > Hello,
> > > I'm contacting the debian maintainers of the Scilab package to get
> > some
> > > clarifications about the license of a particular routine used in
> > Scilab.
> > > 
> > > ./scilab-5.1.1/modules/polynomials/src/fortran/rpoly.f
> > > 
> > > According to the header included into the file, the code is
> > > copyrighted by the INRIA and placed under the CeCILL license.
> > > It is also stated that the code is from NETLIB : TOMS/493. In fact
> > > it is a modified version of the original code available from
> > > http://www.netlib.org/toms/493.
> > Indeed. It was a mistake, I forwarded that upstream and Vincent
> > Couvert removed 
> > this issue
> > ( http://gitweb.scilab.org/?p=scilab;a=commitdiff;h=298062c4634227b92f44910b3d47552b023cb292 ).
> > 
> > 
> > > According to http://www.netlib.org/toms/ the "use of ACM
> > > Algorithms is subject to the ACM Software Copyright and License
> > > Agreement". Further information is given on the page
> > > http://www.acm.org/publications/policies/softwarecrnotice/
> > > The licence grants the right to execute, copy, modify and
> > > distribute the code and the binary only for non-commercial use.
> > > But for **commercial use, you have to get the authorisation from
> > > the
> > authors.**
> > > I'm quite confused by this situation. What licence should I read ?
> > Well, this ACM license issue is still unclear. Old ACM algorithms
> > were in a kind of public domain but they updated their license
> > policies and try to make them retroactive.
> > But anyway, yes, there is an issue here. Do you know a free
> > implementation of this algorithm ?
> > 
> > Thanks for pointing this out,
> > Sylvestre
> >