[Fedora-legal-list] CMSVLIB

[Tom "spot" Callaway]

On 05/07/2009 04:42 PM, Orion Poplawski wrote:
> Tom "spot" Callaway wrote:
>> 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
>>
> 
> But the copyright notice in the code gives it:
> 
> ; Copyright (C) 1999-2000, Craig Markwardt
> ; This software is provided as is without any warranty whatsoever.
> ; Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute modified or
> ; unmodified copies is granted, provided this copyright and disclaimer
> ; are included unchanged.

Okay, as a combination, I think we've got permission to modify, but
there are still use restrictions in the IDL license that make it
non-free, specifically:

; 5. Allowed use of this software is limited to reading and writing
;    IDL variable related portions of IDL Save files. It may not be
;    used as a basis for reverse engineering, or otherwise
;    accessing any other portions of an IDL save file, including but
;    not limited to, those portions that encode executable IDL programs.
;    Such use is in violation of the IDL EULA, and will be prosecuted
;    to the fullest extent possible by Research Systems, Inc. It is
;    permissible to read such sections of an IDL save file for the
;    sole purpose of transferring it without examination or interpretation
;    to another save file.

~spot