New license request: NCL

[nielsdg]

1. License Name: FFTPACK License 2004 2. Short identifier: fftpack-2004 3. License Author or steward: Unknown 4. Comments: This license was discovered during license review in Fedora Linux. https://gitlab.com/fedora/legal/fedora-license-data/-/issues/475. It is used in the package pipewire.

The license is known to scancode-toolkit: https://github.com/nexB/scancode-toolkit/blob/develop/src/licensedcode/data/licenses/fftpack-2004.LICENSE 5. License Request Url: http://tools.spdx.org/app/license_requests/349 6. URL(s): https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/-/blob/master/src/modules/module-filter-chain/pffft.c?ref_type=heads#L1-52 7. OSI Status: Unknown 8. Example Projects: https://pipewire.org/

[jlovejoy]

this is very similar to BSD-3-Clause, except:

• it adds "use of the Software in source and binary forms" instead of just "use in source and binary forms" in the lead in
• the clauses are in a different order with what we normally consider the third clause appearing first
• the warranty of disclaimers has different wording: it adds a disclaimer of noninfringement, and then has less details as to exclusion of types of damages in the last part and also expands that to "use of other dealings" with the software

Given the above, I suspect we should add this as a new license

[karsten-klein]

ScanCode license id: fftpack-2004

{metæffekt} Universe canonical name: Spherepack License short name: Spherepack

Open CoDE Open CoDE status: approved Open CoDE approved license reference: LicenseRef-scancode-fftpack-2004

Comments Seems we detected that licenses in another context (Spherepack); see also https://sources.debian.org/src/spherepack/3.3~a1-5/debian/copyright/. To consolidate naming I would conclude either a

• "UCAR Software License", "UCAR" in short or
• "NCAR Software License" and "NCAR" as short id (since the abbreviation is also part of the text and not only of the copyright).

[jlovejoy]

interesting, so the license in link for the submission seems to got to piperwire project, and then it calls it the "FFTPACK license" in the file. Has the same 2004 copyright notice as what @karsten-klein found in Debian seems to inicate the file is part of spherepack.

Doing a Google search on a phrase, turns up a few other places, but notably: https://www.ncl.ucar.edu/Download/NCL_source_license.shtml

So, I think @karsten-klein idea as to using UCAR or NCAR in the name makes the most sense to me. Note that UCAR is essentially the umbrella organization under which NCAR sits (and happens to be located in my home town in a prominent location on a mesa below the flatiron rock formations and in a building of sandstone designed by the famous I.M Pei... but I digress...)

We do have a UCAR License already on the list - https://spdx.org/licenses/UCAR.html

Perhaps we could go with "NCL Source Code License" and "NCL" since that is the title on this page https://www.ncl.ucar.edu/Download/NCL_source_license.shtml I would note that the license text there is slightly different than in FFTPACk in that "of the Software" is omitted at the above link, whereas it is in the license text in the FFTPACK link: "Redistribution and use of the Software in source and binary forms"

An alternative might be NCAR-CISL ?

I'd hesitate to use only NCAR as it seems likely we may see other licenses from UCAR/NCAR

[nielsdg]

@wtay : I don't know how well you remember the licensing of the file you copied in Pipewire here, but do you have some thoughts on it?

[swinslow]

@jlovejoy Given that the "NCL Source Code License" at https://www.ncl.ucar.edu/Download/NCL_source_license.shtml doesn't match exactly (e.g. doesn't have "of the Software" as you mentioned), I'm not sure we want to reference that for the ID / name.

Is there a reason not to just go with FFTPACK as ID and "FFTPACK License" as name, since that's how we see it being referred to in the wild?

[Pizza-Ria]

@swinslow "NCL Source Code License" at https://www.ncl.ucar.edu/Download/NCL_source_license.shtml is an awful lot closer than the original issues @jlovejoy brought up for BSD-3. But I'm not sure if NCL-UCAR has an SPDX ID already?

[Pizza-Ria]

• Redistribution and use [of the Software] in source and binary forms, with or without modification, [is]**are** permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
• Neither the names of NCAR's Computational and Information Systems Laboratory, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, nor the names of its [sponsors or] contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this Software without specific prior written permission.

[swinslow]

Discussed on 2024-03-28 Legal team call, agreed to add, ID as NCL and name as "NCL Source Code License". Should include markup to handle FFTPACK changes per @Pizza-Ria's comment immediately above.

[jlovejoy]

License Inclusion Decision

Decision:

• [x] approved
• [ ] not approved

Name

NCL Source Code License

License ID

NCL

XML markup

yes, see comments above

Notes:

none

Next steps

If the license has been accepted, please follow the accepted-license process to create the PR.

[github-actions[bot]]

This new license/exception request has been accepted and the information for the license/exception has been merged to the repository. Thank you to everyone who has participated! The license/exception will be published at https://spdx.org/licenses/ as part of the next SPDX License List release, which is expected to be in three months' time or sooner. In the interim, the new license will appear on the license list preview site at https://spdx.github.io/license-list-data/. This is an automated message.