[Python-Dev] Mesenne Twister copyright notice

["Martin v. Löwis"]

Jack Jansen wrote:
> On the other thread: will including the copyright 
> notices/acknowledgements in the documentation be good enough if we don't 
> always ship the documentation? 

This is exactly my concern. It is essentially for people producing 
binary distributions to decide how they want this to be organized.

> Or should we put this in a special 
> section that is always shipped, even with binary installers that don't 
> include documentation?

For the specific case in question, I think MAL's suggestion of adding 
yet another file is sufficient - maintainers of binary distributions 
then need to collect all those text files and distribute them. Complying 
  with the various licenses is really something that the packagers most 
solve for themselves - the source distribution can only prepare things 
in a way that makes complying simple.

Of course, if the license says that you must have certain words in the 
documentation of a binary distribution, then you really must have those 
words somewhere: either in text files that you "declare" to be 
documentation, or (probably more to the spirit of these clauses) in a 
place where users of the binary distribution won't overlook them.

My feeling is that this can get quite annoying both for people producing 
binary distributions, as well as for people using them. So I would 
rather negotiate terms with the authors, or consider rejection of 
contributions that have such clauses. Of course, if nobody but me is 
annoyed by such clauses, I won't fight windmills.

Regards,
Martin