[MITgcm-devel] [MITgcm-support] MITgcm license

Wed May 11 09:37:18 EDT 2016

OK - lets see what feedback we get over the next month.
I would be happy to do this, but we should give
a chance for feedback.

BTW - should the top line maybe read

Copyright (c) 2016 MITgcm Developers and Contributors

there are things in the code base that are derived from a
range of sources that go beyond the group that is
usually thought of as the Developers.

Chris

On Wed, May 11, 2016 at 9:03 AM, Ryan Abernathey
<ryan.abernathey at gmail.com> wrote:
> Yes, I know everyone is busy with real science, and in comparison this seems
> frivolous. I certainly don't wish to waste anyone's time with silly legal
> stuff. But you must admit that it is strange that such a mature software
> project does not have a license.
>
> This doesn't have to be complicated. I propose we adopt the MIT license and
> be done with it. Simply create a LICENSE.txt file in the root directory of
> the project and paste in the following text.
>
>
>
>
> MIT License
>
> Copyright (c) 2016 MITgcm Developers
>
> Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
> of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to
> deal
> in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
> to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
> copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
> furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
>
> The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
> all
> copies or substantial portions of the Software.
>
> THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
> IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
> FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
> AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
> LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
> FROM,
> OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
> THE
> SOFTWARE.
>
> On Wed, May 11, 2016 at 8:48 AM, Chris Hill <cnh at mit.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Not really, but if there is interest in an unconventional approach
>> maybe we could try it! I think it is probably not a great idea though.
>>
>> More seriously - if anyone wants to put forward
>> ideas or thoughts that would be great. The copyright stuff
>> is interesting. My understanding is it reflects the interests
>> of publishers lawyers (RIAA, Elsevier etc...) and "the
>> establishment" more than the will of "the people". There are
>> some famous Columbia law school lectures on this I think. I
>> don't stay up at night worrying about law suits. I do worry a
>> little about stirring up lawyers if we do decide to handle
>> this in a seriously conventional way.
>>
>> Things in this realm that I do worry about are
>> making sure that people get adequate credit, DOIs
>> etc...
>>
>> But mostly I am more losing sleep over tuning up and
>> speeding up 1-2km global calculations, internal
>> waves, calculating eddy fluxes, how we should
>> engage with CESM, maintaining adequate funding and
>> infrastructure to do all the things we could do etc....
>>
>> For better or worse MIT does not have a law school.
>>
>> Chris
>> On Tue, May 10, 2016 at 10:31 PM, Ryan Abernathey
>> <ryan.abernathey at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Chris,
>> >
>> > Are you proposing the WTFPL for MITgcm? I would be in favor--it seems
>> > like
>> > an appropriately permissive license and in keeping with our general
>> > disregard for the norms of polite behavior.
>> >
>> > This article provides a very informative discussion of why a license is
>> > important:
>> >
>> > http://www.astrobetter.com/blog/2014/03/10/the-whys-and-hows-of-licensing-scientific-code/
>> >
>> > Another good choice, and an obvious one, is the MIT license.
>> > http://choosealicense.com/licenses/mit/
>> >
>> > -Ryan
>> >
>> > On Tue, May 10, 2016 at 5:22 PM, Chris Hill <cnh at mit.edu> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>  There is an interesting thread on this topic here
>> >>
>> >>   http://www.wtfpl.net/about/
>> >>  and here
>> >>   http://www.wtfpl.net/faq/
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Tue, May 10, 2016 at 5:18 PM, Ryan Abernathey
>> >> <ryan.abernathey at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >> > On Tue, May 10, 2016 at 5:14 PM, Dimitris Menemenlis
>> >> > <dmenemenlis at gmail.com>
>> >> > wrote:
>> >> >>
>> >> >> you are welcome to use the MITgcm free of charge, as long as you
>> >> >> purchase
>> >> >> a beer per successful compilation for MITgcm developers :-)
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > Clearly this has always been the de-facto license policy!
>> >> >
>> >> > But really, is there nothing more official? I know many of the
>> >> > developers
>> >> > are strong advocates of open source. It seems strange not to clearly
>> >> > document the license of such a big project as MITgcm.
>> >> >
>> >> >>
>> >> >> (you would of course be included in the developers list and so would
>> >> >> benefit from some of the beer!)
>> >> >>
>> >> >> On May 10, 2016, at 2:01 PM, Ryan Abernathey
>> >> >> <ryan.abernathey at gmail.com>
>> >> >> wrote:
>> >> >>
>> >> >> What is the software license for MITgcm?
>> >> >>
>> >> >> I found at least three support emails asking the question
>> >> >> http://mitgcm.org/pipermail/mitgcm-support/2012-January/007613.html
>> >> >> http://mitgcm.org/pipermail/mitgcm-support/2009-November/006334.html
>> >> >> http://mitgcm.org/pipermail/mitgcm-support/2005-November/003591.html
>> >> >>
>> >> >> But no replies. Neither is there any license information in the
>> >> >> source
>> >> >> directory.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Could someone please resolve this issue? I want to know the license
>> >> >> information for a review paper I am involved with.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Best,
>> >> >> Ryan
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >>
>> >> >> _______________________________________________
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>> >> >> MITgcm-devel at mitgcm.org
>> >> >> http://mitgcm.org/mailman/listinfo/mitgcm-devel
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > _______________________________________________
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>> >> >
>> >>
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>> >
>> >
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