| Re: .sav format [message #52538 is a reply to message #52292] |
Sat, 03 February 2007 23:44  |
Craig Markwardt
Messages: 1869
Registered: November 1996
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Senior Member |
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"Haje Korth" <haje.korth@nospam.jhuapl.edu> writes:
> Mike,
> now that you opened the can of worms... I am aware of Craig's description
> fo how variables are stored in the sav files. However, if I remember right,
> the following notice was incorporated into the sav files after Craig's great
> discoveries:
>
> ************************************************************ *****
> NOTICE:
>
> IDL Save/Restore files embody unpublished proprietary information
> about the IDL program. Reverse engineering of this file is therefore
...
> Research Systems, Inc.
> ************************************************************ *****
>
> Thus touching the sav files in any other way than using save/restore has
> turned into a big grey area (the can of worms). IMHO, it is easier to avoid
> the format if at all possible than to deal with possible legal actions.
This warning only applies to you if you are an IDL licensee. If you
are not a licensee, then then you never agreed to the IDL EULA, and it
could not apply to you.
I understand that most people here in the newsgroup are probably IDL
users, but I can imagine that non-IDL programmers interfacing their
own code with IDL save files could use the data unencumbered. The
documentation is also unencumbered.
The claimed intent of the RSI "license" [*] included in my package was
to *allow* IDL licensees to use the library I developed. And by
"claimed intent," I mean the stated intent of RSI personnel at the
time. Thus, everybody -- both IDL licensees and non-licensees -- can
use the library and format without fear.
The "license" is not a taking away of anything, but rather an offering
of permission to IDL licensees by RSI with certain conditions. If you
need or want permission, then accept the conditions. If you don't
need or want permission, then don't accept the conditions and proceed
accordingly. There are no copyright terms in the .pro files
themselves which bind to the RSI "license."
I personally think that the "license" is non-sensical. There is no
reason for a person to need permission from a third party to run
software obtained from another, and on their own data. However, at the
time I was under threat of a lawsuit from suits at KodaKorp [+]. If
including a string of text in the package could make that threat go
away, then so be it.
The knowledge of the world is still net positive. Without my library,
IDL save files would be utterly closed and opaque. With the library,
and an acceptance of RSI's conditions, there are many more
possibilities. With the freely available format documentation, there
are still more possibilities. Those are a good things.
Sorry for pontificating! :-)
Craig
[*] RSI = ITTVIS
[+] Kodak = previous owners of RSI
--
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Craig B. Markwardt, Ph.D. EMAIL: craigmnet@REMOVEcow.physics.wisc.edu
Astrophysics, IDL, Finance, Derivatives | Remove "net" for better response
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