[Debichem-devel] SHELX

[Michael Banck]

Dear Prof. Sheldrick,

I am the lead developer of the Debichem project, which aims to package
all useful chemistry-related software packages for the Debian
(http://www.debian.org) system.

I just came across your article "A short history of SHELX" in Acta
Cryst. A64, page 112.  In the abstract, you write that this article
should be cited when "one or more of the open-source SHELX programs
[...] are employed in the course of a crystal-structure determination".

As you probably know, "open-source" as defined by the Open Source
Initiative (http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd) includes (among others)
free redistribution to any person, company or institution and the
availablity of source code (as well as permitting the source code to be
modified and those modifications to be distributed as well).

On http://shelx.uni-ac.gwdg.de/SHELX/, I could only find a registration
form for free academic use of SHELX-97; will the code obtained via this
form be open-source in the above sense?  If not, where else could we
find an open-source version of SHELX as mentioned in your paper?  If
yes, is it fine if I request the code in the name of the Debichem/Debian
project?


Best regards,

Michael Banck