Re-license under BSD?

[olebole]

Hi,

I found jsofa in use of the upcoming CDS Aladin version, which I intend to package for Debian (the old version is already there). I am however a bit in worry about the license, since its restrictions (rename the prefix in case of changes) are difficult for our Debian Free Software Guidelines.

The astropy community solved this by changing the name to "erfa" and then applying (with permission of IAU) a BSD license; see their repository https://github.com/liberfa/erfa.

Maybe the same could be done for jsofa? This would ease packaging for us (and other distributions that are picky with licenses) a lot.

Thanks!

[pahjbo]

I have no objection in principle to doing this - I think that I have already complied with the restrictions on copies of SOFA - i.e changing the name and prefix (though perhaps more minimally than ERFA!)

My unease/uncertainly is whether I can just change the license again for jsofa as it has already been released - surely it makes a mockery of licensing if this is possible?

[olebole]

I think relicensing is not the problem; at least you could create a new version for it.
More important would be to ask IAU for permission (since they hold the copyright).
Cc to @eteq who went through this for ERFA -- could you share the experiences here?

[olebole]

@pahjbo would you mind if I contact the people at IAU to check about a license change similar to ERFA, or whether your name change (iau --> jau) is not considered a "trivial" modification according to their license?

[…]
c) The names of all routines in your derived work shall not include the prefix "iau" or "sofa" or trivial modifications thereof such as changes of case.

[pahjbo]

@pahjbo would you mind if I contact the people at IAU to check about a license change similar to ERFA, or whether your name change (iau --> jau) is not considered a "trivial" modification according to their license?

[…]
c) The names of all routines in your derived work shall not include the prefix "iau" or "sofa" or trivial modifications thereof such as changes of case.

sorry, I had rather forgotten about this - I do not mind if you want to try contact them - As for the prefix, I had that approved when I originally made the translation - the real idea behind that clause is that there is no linkage ambiguity, and clearly even my small change is sufficient for that.

[olebole]

If they approved it, there is no need to contact them. I then just can refer to this issue. Thank you for the explanation.