## copyright and license

Version 2.32

Manual page for copyright_and_license(PL)

== Begin ploticus 2.32 copyright notice ==

ploticus 2.32 data display engine. Software, documentation, and examples. Copyright 1998-2005 Stephen C. Grubb (stevegrubb@gmail.com)

The home page for PLOTICUS is http://ploticus.sourceforge.net The source code, binaries for some platforms, documentation, and examples may be freely downloaded from that site. About the author

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

GNU General Public License

A copy of the GNU General Public License should be present with the code, in file GPL.txt. A copy of the GNU General Public License may also be obtained from: Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.

Clarification (my view):

The GPL allows you to _use_ ploticus to produce graphs for any lawful commercial or noncommercial purpose, including providing manual or automated services for a fee. Selling or distributing ploticus code to other parties in a non-GPL offering is prohibited, with the following exception. The "pl" executable may be included as a reporting utility and bundled with a non-GPL product if all of these conditions are met: 1) ploticus must be invoked using a standard generic "pl" executable, not the libploticus API; 2) "pl" is used to produce specific predetermined reports and graphs; 3) ploticus graphics capability may not be offered as an additional cost option; 4) the product must be viable in its own right and essentially usable with or without ploticus; 5) ploticus identity and authorship must be clearly stated and be visible to users, including the fact that ploticus source code is freely available from http://ploticus.sourceforge.net. If all of these conditions are met, then ploticus is effectively partitioned from the larger package, and I consider the GPL to be attached only to ploticus and not the larger package.
Note: This situation is addressed on the GPL page here.

If you have questions or need clarification please contact me - stevegrubb@gmail.com . I take an active interest in seeing that these rules are adhered to, and request notification of any suspected violations.

    SVG driver copyright 2001 Bill Traill  bill@traill.demon.co.uk
    SWF driver copyright 2003 Bill Traill  bill@traill.demon.co.uk

    Ploticus generates PNG and run-length-encoded GIF-compatible
    output using portions of Thomas Boutell's gd library versions
    1.6.3 and 1.3.  ploticus does not read GIF files.
    GD 1.6.3 and 1.3 (www.boutell.com) carry the following statements:
       |
       |	Portions copyright 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 by
       |	Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Funded under Grant
       |	P41-RR02188 by the National Institutes of Health.
       |
       |	Portions copyright 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, by Boutell.Com, Inc.
       |
       |    Portions relating to GD2 format copyright 1999 Philip Warner.
       |
       |    Portions relating to PNG copyright 1999, Greg Roelofs.
       |
       |    Portions relating to libttf copyright 1999, John Ellson
       |    (ellson@lucent.com).
       |
       |	(Although his LZW compression code no longer appears
       |	in gd, the authors wish to thank David Rowley for the
       |	original LZW-based GIF compression code, which has been
       |	removed due to patent concerns.)
       |
       |	Non-LZW-based GIF compression code copyright 1998, by
       |	Hutchison Avenue Software Corporation (http://www.hasc.com/,
       |	info@hasc.com).
       |
       |	Permission has been granted to copy and distribute gd
       |	in any context, including a commercial application,
       |	provided that this notice is present in user-accessible
       |	supporting documentation.
       |
       |	This does not affect your ownership of the derived work
       |	itself, and the intent is to assure proper credit for the
       |	authors of gd, not to interfere with your productive use
       |	of gd. If you have questions, ask. "Derived works" includes
       |	all programs that utilize the library. Credit must be
       |	given in user-accessible documentation.
       |
       |	Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute gd
       |	and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is
       |	hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice
       |	appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice
       |	and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation.
       |	This software is provided "as is" without express or implied
       |	warranty.
       |

    == End of ploticus 2.32 Copyright Notice ==

data display engine
Copyright Steve Grubb

Markup created by unroff 1.0, `` `` August 23, 2005.