[Bug 523877] Review Request: CBFlib - crystallography binary format library
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Wed Sep 23 22:15:48 UTC 2009
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https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=523877
Jason Tibbitts <tibbs at math.uh.edu> changed:
What |Removed |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CC| |tibbs at math.uh.edu
Blocks| |182235(FE-Legal)
--- Comment #1 from Jason Tibbitts <tibbs at math.uh.edu> 2009-09-23 18:15:46 EDT ---
Legal folks, skip down a bit.
This builds fine; here's what rpmlint says:
CBFlib.x86_64: W: shared-lib-calls-exit /usr/lib64/libcbf.so.0.0.0
exit at GLIBC_2.2.5
Not a problem.
CBFlib-devel.x86_64: W: hidden-file-or-dir
/usr/share/doc/CBFlib-devel-0.8.1/doc/.symlinks
CBFlib-devel.x86_64: W: spurious-executable-perm
/usr/share/doc/CBFlib-devel-0.8.1/doc/.symlinks
CBFlib-devel.x86_64: W: hidden-file-or-dir
/usr/share/doc/CBFlib-devel-0.8.1/doc/.undosymlinks
CBFlib-devel.x86_64: W: spurious-executable-perm
/usr/share/doc/CBFlib-devel-0.8.1/doc/.undosymlinks
Any idea what these are for? Is there any reason to ship them in the package?
CBFlib-devel.x86_64: W: file-not-utf8
/usr/share/doc/CBFlib-devel-0.8.1/doc/cif_img_1.5.3_8Jul07.dic
Lines 2046 and 2099 contain degree symbols and an a ringed A, respectively. A
pass through iconv -f iso8859-15 -t utf-8 fixes this up.
CBFlib.x86_64: W: unused-direct-shlib-dependency /usr/lib64/libfcb.so.0.0.0
/lib64/libm.so.6
CBFlib.x86_64: W: unused-direct-shlib-dependency /usr/lib64/libfcb.so.0.0.0
/lib64/libgcc_s.so.1
Neither of these is a particularly big deal.
The licensing situation is a bit complicated. Indeed, everything is GPLv2+,
but some of it is also LGPLv2+. That would give a license tag of "GPLv2+ and
(GPLv2+ or LGPLv2+)" but you also need to indicate which parts of the code are
under which license. The documentation says that you can distribute the cbflib
API under the LGPL, but honestly I'm not sure what they consider to be the API.
There's also some truly public domain code in there, though I doubt the
compiled result preserves any of it uncombined with GPL code.
There's also a potentially troubling notice in some code:
* The IUCr Policy *
* for the Protection and the Promotion of the STAR File and *
* CIF Standards for Exchanging and Archiving Electronic Data *
* *
* Overview *
* *
* The Crystallographic Information File (CIF)[1] is a standard for *
* information interchange promulgated by the International Union of *
* Crystallography (IUCr). CIF (Hall, Allen & Brown, 1991) is the *
* recommended method for submitting publications to Acta *
* Crystallographica Section C and reports of crystal structure *
* determinations to other sections of Acta Crystallographica *
* and many other journals. The syntax of a CIF is a subset of the *
* more general STAR File[2] format. The CIF and STAR File approaches *
* are used increasingly in the structural sciences for data exchange *
* and archiving, and are having a significant influence on these *
* activities in other fields. *
* *
* Statement of intent *
* *
* The IUCr's interest in the STAR File is as a general data *
* interchange standard for science, and its interest in the CIF, *
* a conformant derivative of the STAR File, is as a concise data *
* exchange and archival standard for crystallography and structural *
* science. *
* *
* Protection of the standards *
* *
* To protect the STAR File and the CIF as standards for *
* interchanging and archiving electronic data, the IUCr, on behalf *
* of the scientific community, *
* *
* * holds the copyrights on the standards themselves, *
* *
* * owns the associated trademarks and service marks, and *
* *
* * holds a patent on the STAR File. *
* *
* These intellectual property rights relate solely to the *
* interchange formats, not to the data contained therein, nor to *
* the software used in the generation, access or manipulation of *
* the data. *
* *
* Promotion of the standards *
* *
* The sole requirement that the IUCr, in its protective role, *
* imposes on software purporting to process STAR File or CIF data *
* is that the following conditions be met prior to sale or *
* distribution. *
* *
* * Software claiming to read files written to either the STAR *
* File or the CIF standard must be able to extract the pertinent *
* data from a file conformant to the STAR File syntax, or the CIF *
* syntax, respectively. *
* *
* * Software claiming to write files in either the STAR File, or *
* the CIF, standard must produce files that are conformant to the *
* STAR File syntax, or the CIF syntax, respectively. *
* *
* * Software claiming to read definitions from a specific data *
* dictionary approved by the IUCr must be able to extract any *
* pertinent definition which is conformant to the dictionary *
* definition language (DDL)[3] associated with that dictionary. *
* *
* The IUCr, through its Committee on CIF Standards, will assist *
* any developer to verify that software meets these conformance *
* conditions. *
* *
* Glossary of terms *
* *
* [1] CIF: is a data file conformant to the file syntax defined *
* at http://www.iucr.org/iucr-top/cif/spec/index.html *
* *
* [2] STAR File: is a data file conformant to the file syntax *
* defined at http://www.iucr.org/iucr-top/cif/spec/star/index.html *
* *
* [3] DDL: is a language used in a data dictionary to define data *
* items in terms of "attributes". Dictionaries currently approved *
* by the IUCr, and the DDL versions used to construct these *
* dictionaries, are listed at *
* http://www.iucr.org/iucr-top/cif/spec/ddl/index.html *
* *
* Last modified: 30 September 2000 *
* *
* IUCr Policy Copyright (C) 2000 International Union of *
* Crystallography *
This actually seems to be somewhat common-sense; if you wish to make the claim
that you can read or parse certain files, you must actually be able to do so.
We're used to dealing with things like this in the form of trademarks, but I'm
not sure what we do when patents on the file format are involved. Blocking
FE-Legal for guidance.
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