[Debichem-devel] IUPAC/InChI-Trust Licence DFSG-Compliant ?

[Alex Mestiashvili]

On 02/26/2018 01:54 PM, Alex Mestiashvili wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> could you please clarify if the license below can be considered
> DFSG-compatible ?
> 
> Section 2 doesn't sound very good, but section 3 says that GPL-2+ may be
> applied.
> Will it be fine to simply state that it is licensed under GPL-2+ and
> also include the original license in d/copyright ?
> 
> Thank you,
> Alex
> 
> The PDF version lives here:
>  http://www.inchi-trust.org/download/105/LICENCE.pdf
> 

Thank you all for such a detailed answers!

I found the following in the FAQ[0]:

3.2. Is InChI open?

It is intended that the source code is freely re-usable and a license
has been developed to reflect that. Since the InChI source code has a
normative role (i.e. it acts as the final arbiter of the correctness) it
is not freely modifiable, although it is open to anybody to view and
build an InChI binary.

To my limited understanding this render the software non-free as it
fails for example the desert island test, though it is understandable
why they require the code to be not-modifiable.
Or am I missing the point?

I am CC-ing Debichem mailing list, as InChi is a chemistry software.
The beginning of the thread is here:

 https://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2018/02/msg00026.html


[0] https://www.inchi-trust.org/technical-faq/#3