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Re: IDL, GDL, copyright, EULAs and such [message #44690 is a reply to message #44689]

Wed, 06 July 2005 15:19

Paul Van Delst[1]
Messages: 1157
Registered: April 2002

Senior Member

Y.T. wrote:
> A linear fit, for example, is something I've written back on my
> Atari-800: it's not exactly a patentable algorithm. NR published a
> fortran version of the algorithm. RSI implemented it in IDL, cited NR
> in the header as a source and then slapped the following two lines on
> it:
>
> ; Copyright (c) 1994-2001, Research Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
> ; Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

I think the business end of the above two lines is
"Unauthorized reproduction prohibited"
That's a pretty generic statement and one could make the argument that if you have the source code
on a machine that doesn't contain an IDL license you have reproduced it with no authorization from
RSI. Why not ask them? At least then you'll no longer have to rationalise -- you'll know what the
company line is.

From the "Installing and Licensing IDL 6.0" pdf:

<quote>
The IDLï¿½, ION Script", and ION Java" software programs and the accompanying procedures, functions,
and documentation described herein are sold under license agreement. Their use, duplication, and
disclosure are subject to the restrictions stated in the license agreement. Research Systems, Inc.,
reserves the right to make changes to this document at any time and without notice.
</quote>

Note the terms "accompanying procedures, functions, and documentation". That seems pretty clear to
me (although I couldn't find a copy of the license agreement itself.)

> But if I were to implement my linear fit by myself from scratch, it
> would look very much like RSI's, of course. Especially now that I've
> seen their code. How many different ways are there, really, to do this?

But would you do it in the IDL/GDL language? Why not link in a precompiled library and use a GDL
wrapper that has the same interface as the IDL version? It'll probably be faster and there are scads
of available libraries/source codes to pick from.... just visit www.netlib.org. Bypass the IDL
library code altogether.

> Then again, maybe there's no problem with the library code as long as I
> didn't use their actual IDL binary(?)

That's not how I read the copyright statement above.

> Ah, the vagaries of writing code in the 21st century...

But, you wouldn't be writing the code. You'd be copying it. (And RSI might equate "copying" with
"stealing" -- especially when the IDL product ship quantities start to drop..... :o)

paulv

--
Paul van Delst
CIMSS @ NOAA/NCEP/EMC

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[Message index]

		Re: IDL, GDL, copyright, EULAs and such By: Chris Lee on Thu, 07 July 2005 00:41
		Re: IDL, GDL, copyright, EULAs and such By: Ken Mankoff on Wed, 06 July 2005 17:21
		Re: IDL, GDL, copyright, EULAs and such By: Paul Van Delst[1] on Wed, 06 July 2005 15:19
		Re: IDL, GDL, copyright, EULAs and such By: Edd Edmondson on Wed, 06 July 2005 14:02
		Re: IDL, GDL, copyright, EULAs and such By: Y.T. on Wed, 06 July 2005 13:45
		Re: IDL, GDL, copyright, EULAs and such By: Haje Korth on Wed, 06 July 2005 12:50
		Re: IDL, GDL, copyright, EULAs and such By: Y.T. on Wed, 13 July 2005 10:40
		Re: IDL, GDL, copyright, EULAs and such By: m_schellens on Thu, 14 July 2005 08:00
		Re: IDL, GDL, copyright, EULAs and such By: Ken Mankoff on Wed, 13 July 2005 12:26

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