[linux-audio-user] Anyone able to run Csound in Linux in real-time?

[Dave Phillips]

Frank Barknecht wrote:

> Alexandre Prokoudine hat gesagt: // Alexandre Prokoudine wrote:
> 
> > BTW, what is the license of Csound? Can it be legally included in
> > GNU/*/Linux distributions? I' ve read its text, but it doesn't seem
> > to enlighten me... ;-(
> 
> It cannot be legally included. The license of Csound is non-free in
> the Debian/Open Source (tm) sense, because it prohibits distribution
> if it's not for "educational purposes". As distributions are either
> commercial (Redhat, Suse,...) or require free licenses (Debian) they
> cannot legally include Csound.

Here's the license in its entirety:

 Copyright 1986, 1992 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All
rights reserved. 

 Developed by Barry L. Vercoe at the Experimental Music Studio, Media
Laboratory, M.I.T., Cambridge, Massachusetts, with partial support  from
the System Development Foundation and from National Science Foundation
Grant # IRI-8704665. 

 Permission to use, copy, or modify these programs and their
documentation for educational and research purposes only and without fee
is  hereby granted, provided that this copyright and permission notice
appear on all copies and supporting documentation. For any other 
 uses of this software, in original or modified form, including but not
limited to distribution in whole or in part, specific prior 
 permission from M.I.T. must be obtained. M.I.T. makes no
representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose.
It is 
 provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.


Frank, as you can see, this license prohibits *any* redistribution
unless specifically contracted via MIT. The MIT Techology Licensing
department has been notoriously inaccessible, leaving stranded anyone
wanting to distribute Csound even legally. It's a very poor license in
today's world of free software.

However, Rick Boulanger recently met with Barry Vercoe to ask
specifically about a change in the license. Apparently Barry is
sympathetic but he may not have the real power to change it, i.e., it
might be more MIT's decision than his (as you can see above, Barry does
not hold the copyright, it belongs to MIT). At any rate, Rick spoke with
Barry a few weeks ago and nothing of substance has been reported yet.
Rick is a good fellow, I know he wants to help resolve this rather
important issue, but don't hold your breath waiting for a change. 

== Dave Phillips

	The Book Of Linux Music & Sound at http://www.nostarch.com/lms.htm
	The Linux Soundapps Site at http://linux-sound.org