[mesa-users] Jones et al. Urca

[Josiah Schwab]

Hi Amber,

> I noticed in the new instrument paper that Jones 2013 used what is referred
> to as an "unavailable private version" based on 3709. While there is no
> specific license format (gnu, bsd, etc) mentioned in the manifesto, this
> sort of thing is explicitly prohibited, I thought (specifically regarding
> user modifications and additions). Anyone care to comment?

First, the text that is in the that draft of the instrument paper comes
of a little more strongly than it should have.  I attribute this to
being locked in a room with the 10 other authors for a week.

The soon-to-be-posted revised version now says:

  \citet{Jones13} used MESA r3709 along with a denser table described in
  \citet{Toki13} to do their work.  The \citet{Toki13} table is not
  publicly available, so to reproduce the results of \citet{Jones14} ...

which is a more accurate statement of the situation (as Sam describes in
his reply in this thread).


Second, MESA itself is licensed under GPLv2, as indicated at the
beginning of each source file.  GPLv2 permits privately modified copies:

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.en.html#GPLRequireSourcePostedPublic

  The GPL does not require you to release your modified version, or any
  part of it. You are free to make modifications and use them privately,
  without ever releasing them. This applies to organizations (including
  companies), too; an organization can make a modified version and use
  it internally without ever releasing it outside the organization.

  But if you release the modified version to the public in some way, the
  GPL requires you to make the modified source code available to the
  program's users, under the GPL.


The MESA council -- of which I am not a member -- can follow up in this
thread with any official statements.

Josiah