#46209 [Opn->Csd]: Problematic licence in rand.c (with solution)

ID: 46209 Updated by: scottmac@php.net Reported By: thijs at debian dot org -Status: Open +Status: Closed Bug Type: *Math Functions Operating System: Any PHP Version: 5.2.6 New Comment: This bug has been fixed in CVS. Snapshots of the sources are packaged every three hours; this change will be in the next snapshot. You can grab the snapshot at http://snaps.php.net/. Thank you for the report, and for helping us make PHP better. All sorted now in 5.2, 5.3 and trunk Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2008-10-01 10:35:46] thijs at debian dot org Description: ------------ Hi, The file ext/standard/rand.c in any recent version contains the following remark about the licencing of the Mersenne Twister code: " The original code included the following notice: When you use this, send an email to: matumoto@math.keio.ac.jp with an appropriate reference to your work. It would be nice to CC: rjwagner@writeme.com and Cokus@math.washington.edu when you write. " This requirement is problematic because everyone using the PHP code in some way has to send an email to him. This is for example a problem for Debian where Debian itself and any derivative distribution would need to send such a mail, plus every user who takes the source code and does something with it. At Debian we contacted the copyright holder and he swiftly replied that the condition can be completely removed: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?msg=52;bug=498621 So, could you please remove this condition from the code? thanks, Thijs Kinkhorst Debian Developer ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=46209&edit=1