Hi all,
Section 8 of the GPL deals with limiting distribution and/or use of the
software to particular countries:
8. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in
certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the
original copyright holder who places the Program under this License may
add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those
countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries
not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the
limitation as if written in the body of this License.
I would personally consider reading the DOE export restriction as
constraining distribution by US citizens to sensitive countries and read
it as a GPL compatible limitation that is incorporated as if written in
the body of the GPL. The main difficulty in making this interpretation is
that the US export restrictions don't naturally fall into the category of
"restricted in certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted
interfaces". I still think one could make a reasonable case for Maxima
being GPL compatible.
BTW after doing a search it is possibly the case that Richard Stallman
would disagree. This is his response to a much more extreme case:
<http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/plan-nine.html>;
"You agree that, if you export or re-export the Licensed Software or
any modifications to it, You are responsible for compliance with the
United States Export Administration Regulations and hereby indemnify
the Original Contributor and all other Contributors for any liability
incurred as a result."
It is unacceptable for a license to require compliance with US export
control regulations. Laws being what they are, these regulations apply
in certain situations regardless of whether they are mentioned in a
license; however, requiring them as a license condition can extend
their reach to people and activities outside the US government's
jurisdiction, and that is definitely wrong.
Having looked at the DOE's letter it is clear that Schelter is allowed to
licence the software under more permissive terms (subject to noting the
export restriction). Did Schelter ever release the code under a more
permissive licence? (e.g. BSD, MIT, X, etc.)
Regards,
Adam