Re: Adaptive Simulated Annealing (ASA) for octave?

[Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso]

On 4 February 2012 13:32, ingber <address@hidden> wrote:
> (1)  The full ASA code (with all OPTIONS, not typically available in
> adaptations of ASA) can be simply used with just about any other platform.
> ASA can be called as a (compiled) function, making it accessible to other
> systems.
>
> (2) The License is freer than GPL.  It is short and simple.  Here it is:

No... There is a problem.

> 4. Notice must be given of the location of the availability of the
> unmodified current source code, e.g.,
>        http://www.ingber.com/
> in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution
> or publication.  ASA also is listed at
>        http://alumni.caltech.edu/~ingber
>        http://asa-caltech.sourceforge.net
>        https://code.google.com/p/adaptive-simulated-annealing

This is a restriction that the GPL doesn't have. Any restriction in
addition to any provisions in the GPL make the software
GPL-incompatible. What this means is that a work derived from the
combination of ASA and Octave cannot be legally distributed.

Please don't make up your own licenses. You may think it's simple, but
the legalities are complicated and you might be creating problems you
haven't thought of. Pick the simpler path. If you like copyleft, use
the GPL. It may look complicated to you, but the complications are
there for a reason and have a long history and a raison d'être.

     http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/gpl-compatible.html

If you don't like copyleft, use a permissive free license like the
3-clause BSD license. Don't add another clause, no matter how simple
and free you think it is. Are you a lawyer? Have you consulted one?
Have you thought more than everyone else of all the implications of
your extra clause?

The problem of license proliferation is well-documented:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/License_proliferation

Please don't add to the problem. You have created what looks like a
vanity license. This isn't a good thing.

- Jordi G. H.