[Freegis-list] open source SEG-Y viewer wanted

[John Stockwell]

Dear Adrian,

Below my signature is the listing of the Seismic Unix LEGAL_STATEMENT  so
that people can read it in its entirety.

I would point out to anyone who is interested, that you may download 
the Seismic Unix package from: http://www.cwp.mines.edu/cwpcodes
Inspite of Mr. Wagner's careless comments, this code is free software:
as per the conditions of the LEGAL_STATMENT which follows my signature.

>> To my knowledge there is no all inclusive legal definition of what 
>> constitutes "Free Software".  
>
>While there is no legal definition, there has been a large debate in the
>field and the term "Free" has come to have a fairly well defined
>meaning. (NB in this context the word is usually, though not always,
>capitalized.) The term "Free",  as opposed to other terms like "open
>source", is intented to preserve at least the following freedoms:
>
>-access to the source for personal modification
>-ability to re-distribute the product *to anyone" possibly with the
>restrictuion that none of these rights can be taken away from anyone.
>-ability to re-distribute the modified work.

Yes. Our license guarantees those rights. Indeed, the only rights that
are denied are those of companies that are in the free software repackaging
business, but who are too lazy to write a letter asking for permission
to repackage and distribute the codes as is!

>This you undoubtedly know. I wonder though if you are also aware of all
>the thinking that has gone into the issue you are grappling with-

Who's grappling? I am responding to a rather careless and inaccurate 
statement by Mr. Wagner.  

>Essentially your license is taking away one
>of the freedoms that is usually granted by "Free" licenses-the right to
>re-distribute for some compensation- in order to prevent exhorbitant
>prices being charged for software you would like to be cheaply
>available. Experience has shown us that Free licenses also prevent this
>from happening.

We have been putting SU out on the Net since 1992, which is prehistory,
as far as free software distribution is concerned.  Our code is already
used in 55 countries.  As near as I can tell, our license *protects*
users from unscrupulous redistributors, and helps us ensure that users are getting
the most current version of the package.

>Perhaps you would consider exploring the question a little
>further and deciding whether you still believe that you would call your
>license "Free" (in which case we can amicably disagree) or whether you
>could acheive the same goals with another license that you would
>consider "Free".

Our software _is_ Free Software. It may not agree with the definition of
"Free Software" that Mr. Wagner espouses, it is Free Software, nonetheless.
I see no particular advantage in changing a License which has worked well
for the past 8 years.

>adrian custer
-- 
John Stockwell	 | john at dix.Mines.EDU
Center for Wave Phenomena (The Home of Seismic Un*x)
Colorado School of Mines
Golden, CO 80401 | http://www.cwp.mines.edu/cwpcodes
voice: (303) 273-3049

Our new book:
Norman Bleistein, Jack K. Cohen, John W. Stockwell Jr., [2000],
Mathematics of multidimensional seismic imaging, migration, and inversion,
(Interdisciplinary Applied Mathematics, V. 13.), Springer-Verlag, New York.


----------- LEGAL STATEMENT -------------------------------------------
This file is the property of the Colorado School of Mines,
it may not be altered in any way.
Copyright statement:
Copyright (c) Colorado School of Mines, 1992-2000
All rights reserved.

The CWP/SU Seismic Unix package is not public domain software,
but it is available free under the following license:

License:
Permission to use, copy, and modify this software for any
purpose within the guidelines set below, and without fee is
hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice 
and this permission notice appear in all copies, and the 
name of the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) not be used in 
advertising or publicity pertaining to this software without 
specific, written prior permission from CSM. CSM makes no representations 
about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is 
provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

Guidlines:
SU may be used in the commercial processing of data, as well
as the development of commercial software applications. The
simple repackaging and selling of the SU package as is, is expressly
forbidden without the prior written permission of the Colorado School
of Mines. Any such arrangement will carry the restriction that only
a modest profit above reproduction charges may be realized by the
reproducer.

Referencing Seismic Unix:
In publications, please reference SU as per the following example.

Example:
   Cohen, J. K. and Stockwell, Jr. J. W., (2000), CWP/SU: Seismic
      Unix Release 34: a free package for seismic research and processing,
      Center for Wave Phenomena, Colorado School of Mines.

Of course, 2000  and 34 should be replaced with date and number
of the release you are using.

Recent articles about SU in peer-reviewed journals:
Saeki, T., (1999), A guide to Seismic Unix (SU)(2)---examples
        of data processing (part 1), data input and preparation 
        of headers, Butsuri-Tansa (Geophysical Exploration), 
        vol. 52, no. 5,  465-477.
Stockwell, Jr. J. W. (1999), The CWP/SU: Seismic Un*x Package,
        Computers and Geosciences, May 1999.
Stockwell, Jr. J. W. (1997), Free Software in Education: A case
         study of CWP/SU: Seismic Un*x, The Leading Edge, July 1997.
Templeton, M. E., Gough, C.A., (1998), Web Seismic Un*x:
        Making seismic reflection processing more accessible, Computers
        and Geosciences, in press.

Disclaimer: 
There are no guarantees, explicit or implicit, made by the
Center for Wave Phenomena, the Colorado School of Mines, or
any member of the aforesaid organizations, or by any
contributor to this package, past, present,
or future, regarding the accuracy, safety, usefulness, or
any other quality or aspect of this software or any software
derived from it. 

Statement of Y2K compliance:
All releases of SU from the initial to the current release have been Y2K
compliant as there are no serious parts of the SU package that depend
on the date.

Acknowledgements:

SU stands for Seismic Unix, a processing line developed at
the Colorado School of Mines, partially based on Stanford
Exploration Project (SEP) software.

Einar Kjartansson, in cooperation with Shuki Ronen, wrote
the first draft what is now called SU, while both were 
graduate students at Stanford University.  In turn, some of
the fundamental concepts they implemented were formulated
by their mentor, Jon Claerbout, Director of the Stanford
Exploration Project.  Ronen brought this work to our Center
during a two year stay here and, during this time, aided
by Jack K. Cohen, began to turn SU into a supportable
and exportable product.

Chris Liner, while a student at the Center, wrote most of
the graphics codes used in the pre-workstation (i.e,
graphics terminal) age of SU.  Liner's broad knowledge of
seismology and seismic processing enabled him to make a
positive and continuing influence on the SU coding philosophy.

Dave Hale wrote several of the ``heavy duty'' processing
codes as well as most of the core scientific and graphics
libraries.  His knowledge of good C-language coding practice
helped make our package a good example for applied computer
scientists.

John Stockwell is largely responsible for designing the
Makefile structure that makes the package easy to install
on the majority of Unix platforms.

Thanks go to all the CWP students present and past and to
many in the worldwide SU community who have contributed
to the package.

In memorium: Jack K. Cohen passed away in October 1996. He
will surely be missed by all who had contact with him in the
mathematical, geophysical, and SU-user communities.

John Stockwell	 | john at dix.Mines.EDU
Center for Wave Phenomena (The Home of Seismic Un*x)
Colorado School of Mines
Golden, CO 80401 | http://www.cwp.mines.edu/cwpcodes
voice: (303) 273-3049  |    fax: (303) 273-3478.