On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 1:46 PM, Gavin Simpson <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gavin.simpson@ucl.ac.uk">gavin.simpson@ucl.ac.uk</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im">On Wed, 2010-12-01 at 13:21 -0500, Dominick Samperi wrote:<br>
> This post asks members of the R community, users and developers,<br>
> to comment on issues related to the GNU Public License<br>
> and R community policies more generally.<br>
><br>
</div><snip/><br>
<div class="im">> As a counterbalance I think the community of developers and<br>
> users need to play a more active role in the evolution of<br>
> shared values and expectations. In this spirit I respectfully request<br>
> that the R community consider the following.<br>
<br>
</div>I don't think there is much relevance /here/ (R-devel) to your spat with<br>
the Rcpp developers. You released the package under a permissive licence<br>
and people took up its development after it lay dormant for a long time.<br>
<br>
As I understand it Rcpp has moved on leaps and bounds of late and the<br>
current code base is quite well removed from your original. That being<br>
so, the line you quote would seem to be a fair reflection of the current<br>
state of the package. <br></blockquote><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>
I do not read into it anything disparaging and would suggest that it is<br>
your own personal displeasure at the way your work has been taken and<br>
improved/altered that is colouring your views on this particular point.<br>
<br>
Also, I wasn't aware that Rcpp was now part of R Core Development. I was<br>
aware that Rcpp now uses some of the new reference class code added in<br>
the latest version of R. If I have missed something, great. The Rcpp<br>
stuff I have seen recently looks great and I see it being used in<br>
several packages.<br></blockquote><div><br>Obviously members of the R core team have been added to the author<br>list. I think this answers your question.<br><br>I do not deny that great progress has been made, but that does not<br>
give the developers the right to impugn my work. Are you saying it<br>is proper to deprecate the contribution of past authors, and that<br>the extent of this deprecation should be proportional to the amount<br>of progress made? Should we add this to the list of R community<br>
policies? Are all users in agreement with this policy?<br><br>As I said, an easy resolution is simply to not refer to my<br>name in the Rcpp package at all.<br> <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>
Please grind this particular axe elsewhere.<br>
<br>
All the best,<br>
<br>
Gavin<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
> The author line of the latest release of the R package<br>
> Rcpp (0.8.9) was revised as follows:<br>
><br>
> From: "based on code written during 2005 and 2006 by Dominick Samperi"<br>
><br>
> To: "a small portion of the code is based on code written during 2005 and<br>
> 2006 by Dominick Samperi"<br>
><br>
> As it is highly unusual (and largely impossible) to quantify the relative<br>
> size of the the contribution made by each author of GPL'ed software, this<br>
> has<br>
> effectively changed an acknowledgment into a disparaging remark. It<br>
> is also misleading, because I am the original creator of the Rcpp library<br>
> and package (it was forked by Dirk Eddelbuettel and is now effectively<br>
> part of R core development). Incidentally, the README file for<br>
> Rcpp 0.6.7 shows that my contributions and influence were not<br>
> confined to the period 2005-2006.<br>
><br>
> A look at the change history of Rcpp would quickly reveal that to be<br>
> fair other authors of Rcpp (and perhaps other R package authors)<br>
> should have their contributions qualified with "a small portion of the<br>
> code",<br>
> or "administered by", but this is precisely the kind of monitoring that<br>
> inspired Richard Stallman to say we must "chuck the masks" in the<br>
> GNU Manifesto.<br>
><br>
> It is obviously a great benefit for the R community to have Rcpp actively<br>
> supported by the R core team. I am very grateful for this. What I do<br>
> have a problem with is the fact that my contributions are disparaged<br>
> by people who have benefited from my past work.<br>
><br>
> It seems to me that there are two possible resolutions. First, if my<br>
> name is used in the Rcpp package it should be used to provide fair,<br>
> accurate, and courteous acknowledgement for my past contributions.<br>
> Second, if this is not possible, then my name should not be used at all.<br>
> If the second option is selected then the only place my name should<br>
> appear is in the copyright ("deputy") notices.<br>
><br>
> Incidentally, the fact that the word "copyright" is profoundly misleading in<br>
> the context of GPL is not a new idea, and the word "copyleft" is<br>
> sometimes used instead. But copyleft is not used in source files<br>
> because this would unlink GPL from the well-established legal<br>
> framework associated with "copyright", making it more difficult for<br>
> the FSF to enforce its principles (the critical link is provided by<br>
> the copyright holders or "deputies").<br>
><br>
> A final clarification: authors of original works do retain a legal<br>
> copyright on their original work in the sense that they are free<br>
> to modify this work and release it as non-free software (or<br>
> under a different free license), but this has no effect on the<br>
> version that was released under GPL. The latter version and<br>
> all of its progeny belong to the public (or to the FSF from<br>
> a legal point of view).<br>
><br>
> Please feel free to express your opinion on these matters.<br>
><br>
> Thanks,<br>
> Dominick<br>
><br>
</div></div><div><div></div><div class="h5">> [[alternative HTML version deleted]]<br>
><br>
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<br>
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