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hms-dbmi / scde

R package for analyzing single-cell RNA-seq data
http://pklab.med.harvard.edu/scde
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License unclear #38

Closed rekado closed 5 years ago

rekado commented 7 years ago

The DESCRIPTION file declares the GPL version 2 to be the license for SCDE, but the license.txt file is a non-free license incompatible with the GPL. Which license really applies to SCDE?

JEFworks commented 7 years ago

Apologies for the confusion. Our intent is to provide a free copyleft open-source license intended for noncommercial/academic use as well as allow the possibility of derivative proprietary applications through multi-licensing.

rekado commented 5 years ago

Thank you for your response. I'm afraid I'm still confused by the statement "free copyleft open-source license intended for noncommercial/academic use", because the GPL grants the use for any purpose, including commercial use:

https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.en.html#NoMilitary

The copyright holder (i.e. the authors including all contributors in case there is no copyright assignment process) always has the right to grant other licenses (e.g. for sale) to certain users, including a custom proprietary license that permits the use in proprietary software (which is not permitted by the GPL). I assume that this is what you mean by multi-licensing.

Unfortunately, a license that only permits non-commercial or academic use is not considered an Open Source or Free Software license. This would prevent all free software distributions from including or distributing the package.

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/programs-must-not-limit-freedom-to-run.html
https://opensource.org/docs/osd (point 6)

It would be great if you could clarify that the GPL does indeed apply for all purposes and that the choice of a proprietary license (e.g. after paying money) is optional.

Thank you!

JEFworks commented 5 years ago

Thanks so much for the info and links. Yes, the GPL does indeed apply for all purposes. An alternative non-GPL license is intended to be available for purchase if the user is interested in derivative uses in proprietary software or other commercial non-copy-left derivative works. I would definitely appreciate your expertise in wording this legal technicality correctly to ensure that these terms are communicated properly. This is a type of licensing arrangement that I am interesting in applying to all of my other software creations as well. Thanks again for the help.

Best, Jean