[License-review] Los Alamos National Labs BSD-3 Variant License Approval

[Pettinger, Adam L]

Hello,

We are trying to get a package (https://github.com/UTNuclearRoboticsPublic/netft_utils) distributed, and there is a small ambiguity in the licensing situation, see here (https://github.com/ros/rosdistro/pull/41583) for discussion.

We determined that the best way forward is to get the license for the project approved by the OSI. See the attached file for the license text, but it is basically a Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) flavored BSD-3, and would be similar to (https://opensource.org/license/bsd-3-clause-lbnl).

I believe the legacy license path makes the most sense for this, although that depends on how "unrelated" the entities must be. Here is a list of projects using the license (https://www.lanl.gov/software/open-source-software.php), and they are only related in that

  1.
The authors have some affiliation with LANL and
  2.
The Feynman Center at LANL has approved them for open source release.

The reason I think legacy makes sense is that the license is already used many places, and the ability to change the wording in it at this point is questionable.

I will follow the legacy submission going forward, but please let me know if you think I should update and switch to the new license requirements. Per the guidelines on the website:

  *
The license text is attached
  *
It complies with the Open Source Definition, including clauses 3, 5, 6, and 9
  *
Here is a list of projects using the license: (https://www.lanl.gov/software/open-source-software.php)
  *
The lisence steward would be the Intellectual Property Team at the Richard P. Feynman Center for Innovation at LANL. Phone: (505) 665-9090. Email: software at lanl.gov
  *
Unknown other approvals or information
  *
Following (https://opensource.org/license/bsd-3-clause-lbnl), I propose the name: Los Alamos National Lab BSD Variant License and identifier BSD-3-Clause-LANL
  *
No other existing IDs

If it must be considered a new license, additional information would be:

  *
Gap to be filled: ability to release projects approved by LANL and using their license
  *
The most similiar (https://opensource.org/license/bsd-3-clause-lbnl), and really is quite close. Mostly just substituting LBNL naming with LANL naming
  *
Not sure what review the license has been through

Please let me know if you have any questions, thanks!


Adam Pettinger

Senior Research Engineer

adam.pettinger at tamu.edu<mailto:adam.pettinger at tamu.edu>

TEXAS A&M ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION DESIGN LAB

https://rad.engr.tamu.edu/


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