Frank Barknecht wrote: > Alexandre Prokoudine hat gesagt: // Alexandre Prokoudine wrote: > > > BTW, what is the license of Csound? Can it be legally included in > > GNU/*/Linux distributions? I' ve read its text, but it doesn't seem > > to enlighten me... ;-( > > It cannot be legally included. The license of Csound is non-free in > the Debian/Open Source (tm) sense, because it prohibits distribution > if it's not for "educational purposes". As distributions are either > commercial (Redhat, Suse,...) or require free licenses (Debian) they > cannot legally include Csound. Here's the license in its entirety: Copyright 1986, 1992 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All rights reserved. Developed by Barry L. Vercoe at the Experimental Music Studio, Media Laboratory, M.I.T., Cambridge, Massachusetts, with partial support from the System Development Foundation and from National Science Foundation Grant # IRI-8704665. Permission to use, copy, or modify these programs and their documentation for educational and research purposes only and without fee is hereby granted, provided that this copyright and permission notice appear on all copies and supporting documentation. For any other uses of this software, in original or modified form, including but not limited to distribution in whole or in part, specific prior permission from M.I.T. must be obtained. M.I.T. makes no representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty. Frank, as you can see, this license prohibits *any* redistribution unless specifically contracted via MIT. The MIT Techology Licensing department has been notoriously inaccessible, leaving stranded anyone wanting to distribute Csound even legally. It's a very poor license in today's world of free software. However, Rick Boulanger recently met with Barry Vercoe to ask specifically about a change in the license. Apparently Barry is sympathetic but he may not have the real power to change it, i.e., it might be more MIT's decision than his (as you can see above, Barry does not hold the copyright, it belongs to MIT). At any rate, Rick spoke with Barry a few weeks ago and nothing of substance has been reported yet. Rick is a good fellow, I know he wants to help resolve this rather important issue, but don't hold your breath waiting for a change. == Dave Phillips The Book Of Linux Music & Sound at http://www.nostarch.com/lms.htm The Linux Soundapps Site at http://linux-sound.org
