[R] How many R packages are not free?

[Peter Dalgaard]

On 10/02/2010 07:38 PM, Spencer Graves wrote:
>         Is there anything on CRAN that is NOT free?  I assumed that CRAN 
> had a policy of not accepting anything that could not be freely 
> distributed, but I could not find any such statement in a quick search.  
> The code by Uwe identified 52 packages with "file LICENCE" or "file 
> LICENSE", plus others with combinations of something like GPL with "file 
> LICENCE" or "file LICENSE".


I believe the CRAN policy is just that: Freely redistributable. "Free
Software" usually means something else: Free usage and modification.

One main issue is code licensed "free for non-commercial usage" or
"academic usage", which are not Free Software. However, CRAN being a
repository with many academic users, it does serve a purpose to
distribute them for research purposes.  [Long discussion omitted of
whether that sort of license was ever a good idea....]


-- 
Peter Dalgaard
Center for Statistics, Copenhagen Business School
Phone: (+45)38153501
Email: pd.mes at cbs.dk  Priv: PDalgd at gmail.com