wfmath_1.0.1-1_amd64.changes REJECTED

[Stephen M. Webb]

On 08/05/2013 11:00 AM, Paul Richards Tagliamonte wrote:
> 
> Howdy,
> 
> The terms of the MersnneTwister appear to be non-free as noted in this file.
> 
> 
> wfmath-1.0.1\wfmath\MersenneTwister.h:
> 
> // The original code included the following notice:
> //
> //     When you use this, send an email to: matumoto at math.keio.ac.jp
> //     with an appropriate reference to your work.

The source file in question, wfmath/MersenneTwister.h, is authored by Richard J. Wagner <rjwagner at writeme.com> and is
distributed under the BSD 3-clause license.  It is an extension of the original implementation of the Mersenne Twister
algorithm by Shawn Cokus <cokus at math.washington.edu>.

When the Mersenne Twister was originally published, it's creators Makoto Matsumoto and Takuji Nishimura requested that
anyone who used the algorithm send them an email.  It was not a requirement, but their web page [1] still carries that
request.

At the time that Shawn Cokus wrote his original implementation the Matsumoto and Nishimura implementation carried the
request to send an email as reproduced in the Wagner implementation's header file.  Wagner conformed to the
then-conditions of the algorithm's distribution license as can bee audited at [2].  The inclusion of that text in a
comment in the header file is an interesting historical note, but not a condition of redistribution of Wagner's source
code.  It is also not a restriction on the use of the algorithm, since the condition of the algorithm authors is a
request and not a mandatory condition.

Since the distribution license of this source file is BSD-3 and simply contains a comment of historical interest, I
would argue that it is not in fact DFSG non-free.  I would also note that it is not a new source file or package in
Debian and it has passed NEW approval several times already, establishing a precedent.


[1] http://www.math.sci.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/~m-mat/MT/emt.html
[2] http://www.math.sci.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/~m-mat/MT/VERSIONS/C-LANG/c-lang.html
-- 
Stephen M. Webb  <stephen.webb at bregmasoft.ca>

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 899 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-games-devel/attachments/20130805/ae90771a/attachment.sig>