RE: [ng-spice-devel] Licensing


To <ng-spice-devel@ieee.ing.uniroma1.it>
From "Jon Engelbert" <jon@beigebag.com>
Date Fri, 13 Apr 2001 11:07:47 -0400
Delivered-To mailing list ng-spice-devel@ieee.ing.uniroma1.it
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In-Reply-To <CF654D964573D311A1CA0090278A36FF4CBE25@EDIN_EXM1 >
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Reply-To ng-spice-devel@ieee.ing.uniroma1.it

Alan,
Good questions... and important issues.

I'd like to see ng-spice be freely redistributed as in the Berkeley
licensing scheme.  This would be good for the ng-spice users because it will
give them the option to purchase tools that are built around it, e.g.
schematics and post-processors.  In the ideal scenario as I see it, small
EDA companies such as Beige Bag Software will contribute to the project as
well as gain from it, because the small companies don't have the resources
to compete with the big boys in the industry by themselves.  I could see the
community get upset if companies use the enhancements without
contributing...  I have no problem including source code for the ng-spice
engine on the release CD for my product.

I've been planning to make my enhancements & changes available to ng-spice.
I haven't yet, because of the following:

* I've been very busy working on gui code to go into the next version of my
company's software.
* I've been waiting for this ng-spice group to get a solid direction.
* I wasn't able to successfully download the ng-spice source code onto my
Windows machine when I tried last Winter.
* I'm still not sure that I want to make my xspice code public, nor am I
100% certain about the licensing issues.
* Identifying the proper way to merge my changes with ng-spice will take
some work.
B2 Spice's x-spice engine has the xspice enhancements, many new xspice
digital parts, and some other enhancements such as monte-carlo simulation
capabilities and some parameter sweeps.  I have been using revision control
software, so I can do a pretty good job of finding the changes I've made,
but it will take some time and it's not the highest priority for me right
now.

I've also been working on some enhancements lately to support Al Davis' IBIS
work.  These enhancements include the following:
1. All passive elements must have nonlinear capability.  As a
minimum, PWL will do...
2. All passive elements must be able to be time dependent, like the
source PWL.
3. All passive elements must be able to have both 1 and 2 above,
simultaneously, as a two-dimensional table.
4. A "trigger" element, which is used to time-shift time dependent
waveforms based on circuit activity.

I'm sure that he and I will talk about whether or not to put the changes
that I make into ng-spice.  I believe that he said it would be OK, and if it
is OK, then I'm willing to share the code.

I have one big question.  If I were to make my source code changes
available, what would I do?  Who should I send it to?  I really don't have
much time to give to this project right now.

Jon Engelbert
President, Beige Bag Software
279 E. Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI 48105
jon@beigebag.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Gillespie, Alan [mailto:Alan.Gillespie@analog.com]
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 6:04 AM
To: 'ng-spice-devel@ieee.ing.uniroma1.it'
Subject: [ng-spice-devel] Licensing


Since Jon is a representative of a commercial company,
which is presumably "closed source" as far as his
enhancements are concerned, I was wondering what the GPL
means for his application.

For instance, I submitted a bunch of model bug fixes
to ng-spice recently.

Can Jon use those in his own version of spice, without
making his version open source ?

If he can't, can he come to an agreement with me, since
they were originally my fixes, or have I lost the right
to allow someone to use those fixes in proprietary code ?

Cheers,

Alan


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