From: "David J. H. Shih" <dshih at jimmy.harvard.edu>
To: "bioc-devel" <bioc-devel at r-project.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2017 12:48:31 PM
Subject: [Bioc-devel] Bioconductor package license: dependency on work under non-commercial license
Hello,
I'd like to ask whether Bioconductor will allow a dependency package
under a non-commercial license:
https://github.com/djhshih/mlat/blob/master/LICENSE_blat.txt
I read the package guidelines:
http://bioconductor.org/developers/package-guidelines/#license but it
does not address this question.
I am putting together a package for somatic variant filtering. One of
the filters involve re-aligning the supporting reads using a heavily
refactored version of BLAT: MLAT (https://github.com/djhshih/mlat). BLAT
remains under a license that restricts commercial users. Although the
original license mentions no restriction on derivative work, I contacted
the author, and he maintains that the non-commercial license applies to
derivative works. Eventually, I'll probably replace BLAT (with another
aligner like SHRiMP2, which appears to have superior sensitivity and has
a permissive license), but I was wondering how I might be able to
assemble my package in the short term.
Here is my plan:
1. Create a BLAT/MLAT package under BLAT's non-commercial license.
2. Create the main package under GPLv3 that optionally depends on BLAT.
Will Bioconductor permit a optional dependency package under a
non-commercial license?
Best regards,
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, Dana-Farber
Cancer Institute
Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Cancer Program, Broad Institute
3 Blackfan Circle, CLS-11082
Boston, MA 02115