[Fedora-legal-list] CMSVLIB

[Tom "spot" Callaway]

On 05/07/2009 12:21 PM, Orion Poplawski wrote:
> Tom "spot" Callaway wrote:
>> On 05/07/2009 11:06 AM, Orion Poplawski wrote:
>>> The tricky part is the code that reads and writes IDL save files.  IDL
>>> is proprietary software from (currently) ITT (previously Research
>>> Systems Inc).  There is a LICENSE.RSI file:
>>>
>>> http://cow.physics.wisc.edu/~craigm/idl/down/LICENSE.RSI
>>>
>>> That seems to grant permission to use it.
>>
>> Yes, but it clearly does not grant permission to modify it. That code is
>> non-free.
> 
> Really, where?  The text of the license cannot be modified, but I don't
> see where the code cannot (other than to change it to read not data
> portions of the save file - is that the trouble?)

It does not say that you cannot modify the code, but it never says that
you _CAN_. Modification is not an automatically granted right under
copyright, they have to explicitly grant it.

~spot