Comments from ftpmaster regarding spdep Debian package

[Roger Bivand]

Hi Andreas,

Given surveillance rather than my (wrong) guess, I'm willing to do what I 
can - I agree that actual use in epidemiology is worth facilitating. 
Should the soigraph issue prove problematic, I'll look at a work-around.

What is the r-cran-maptools issue - I'm also the maintainer of that 
package? I'm not aware of what might be non-free there; maybe the data 
files for examples and testing? Nobody has asked me about that.

Best wishes,

Roger

On Thu, 31 Jul 2014, Andreas Tille wrote:

> Hi Roger,
>
> On Thu, Jul 31, 2014 at 03:47:34PM +0200, Roger Bivand wrote:
>>> I'm very astonished that this thread which started with two very simple
>>> questions exagerated to such a time consuming discussion.
>>
>> Most questions are not as simple as they appear, think ontologies.
>> Mine differs from yours. You haven't toød me why you need to package
>> spdep other than that another R package depends on (enhances?)
>> spdep.
>
>  http://surveillance.r-forge.r-project.org
>
>> I guessed stargazer, but you ignored my question. I need to
>> know why this matters.
>
> I have no idea why you guessed this since stargazer is not packaged for
> Debian and I do not know about any intend to package it.  I did not
> wanted to avoid your question but rather wanted to save your time with
> discussion that seemed irrelevant to me.
>
>>> Since I read
>>> a lot of frustration in you mail and no chance to clarify things easily
>>> I just repeat the main point: inst/README says:
>>
>> A frequently given reply for Debian/Ubuntu users of rgdal (R
>> interface to GDAL) is to avoid any and all pre-packaged
>> Debian/Ubuntu packages and similar dependency traps. The
>> Debian/Ubuntu packaging of central GIS software is so poor and tardy
>> that it is a major problem for users.
>
> Since I can not find rgdal in the Debian package pool I would welcome if
> this accusation would go to the place where it belongs to.  While I
> agree that Debian GIS software -- not GIS software written in R but in
> general -- was not in the best state but there is currently an effort to
> enhance situation.  It does not help if people repeat third persons
> experiences without checking the current status.
>
>> Consequently I view any such
>> packaging as unnecessary in principle and practice, and that users
>> should install from source on Linux/Unix, especially CRAN packages
>> and R itself, and crucial external dependencies.
>
> I'm working in the Debian Med project and the epidemiology task has
> several R packages:
>
>   http://blends.debian.org/med/tasks/epi
>
> The packages there do not have any open bug reports and are up to date
> with the exception of r-cran-surveillance which I'm working on
> currently.  It needs to pass the new queue for the sake of waiting for a
> r-cran-maptools.  Since I added auto testing feature for all packages
> featuring unit tests also spdep is needed since it is used in the unit
> tests.  You seem to be concerned about the quality of packaged software
> and so I hope you agree that running a test suite automatically and
> periodically is a good idea.
>
> In short:  I accept your opinion about Debian packaging but there are
> users out there who are regarding our effort as helpful and I'm doing
> this for these people.
>
>>> File: src/soigraph.c is copyright (c) 2001 by Nicholas Lewin-Koh and
>>> is subject to the licence at the foot of this file, but also contains
>>> subroutines TwoCirclesxx and SubVec, which are adapted for R and Double
>>> precision coordinates by Nicholas Lewin-Koh, from Computational Geometry
>>> in C, Joseph O.Rourke, Cambridge University Press (1998). Copyright for
>>> those subroutines remains his.
>>>
>>> Can you please confirm that the license is really GPLv2+?
>>>
>>> [ ] yes
>>> [ ] no
>>
>> No idea, IANAL, I assume that the original author Nicholas Lewin-Koh
>> checked in 2001 when the code came into being that the license given
>> was adequate. My interpretation of the text in the file from which
>> the functions were taken is that it permits use and redistribution
>> provided that the copyright to J. O'Rourke is acknowledged, which it
>> is.
>
> I'll forward this to our ftpmaster whether he might regard this as
> sufficient to distribute the package.
>
> Kind regards
>
>       Andreas.
>
>

-- 
Roger Bivand
Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics,
Helleveien 30, N-5045 Bergen, Norway.
voice: +47 55 95 93 55; fax +47 55 95 91 00
e-mail: Roger.Bivand at nhh.no