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Declare GPL-2.0-or-later, not GPL-2.0-only - #24
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The metadata over-claimed restriction relative to the code it describes. No file in scalcs/ carries a licence notice of any kind, and LICENSE.MD is the bare GPL version 2 text whose own section 9 says that where a program specifies no version number, a recipient may choose any version the Free Software Foundation has published. The "only" existed in pyproject.toml and nowhere else. It became a real constraint rather than a cosmetic one when the fitting layer was placed in HJCFIT, which is GPL-3.0-or-later and now needs SCALCS for mechanism handling. GPL-2.0-only and GPL-3.0 are mutually incompatible, so the combination could not have been distributed at all. MIT was considered and rejected, for three independent reasons. SCALCS is not one person's copyright -- 70 commits from Christoph Schmidt-Hieber and one from Jens Hedegaard Nielsen -- so a permissive relicence needs their agreement, which is a conversation rather than a commit. Parts of the package are re-implemented from the DCPROGS Fortran, which is GPL, and popen.py says so of HJC_HILL.FOR; MIT would assert that none of that is a derivative work, which is the stronger claim to have to defend. And it buys nothing for this architecture, since GPL-3.0-or-later HJCFIT can consume GPL-2.0-or-later without difficulty. The benefit of MIT would be to third parties outside the GPL world, which is worth revisiting on its own terms rather than as a side effect of a dependency decision. The README now states the version where a reader will look, since no source file does. Verified: the built wheel's metadata reads License-Expression: GPL-2.0-or-later, and twine check passes on both artifacts. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This was referenced Sep 11, 2026
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Seven merged pull requests have been waiting since 1.1.0, and one of them is now blocking work elsewhere: HJCFIT's fitting layer is duck-typed on a mechanism and needs Rate.is_free, which exists here on master and not in the published 1.1.0. Its [fitting] extra pins scalcs>=1.1.0, which is too loose -- the integration tests fail on the released wheel with "'Rate' object has no attribute 'is_free'". A minor rather than a patch release, because it corrects computed values as well as adding API. #17 root bracketing for the asymptotic pdf. Counts were not recomputed when a search bound moved, widening happened once where it needed to repeat, and the upper bound was compared against the wrong state count. det[W(s)] is also unusable at large |s|, where it is of order 1e53 and changes sign hundreds of times in noise, so roots are now refined by bisecting the eigenvalue count where the determinant cannot be trusted. Roots are validated before being returned. #18 scsim re-exports burst segmentation from dcio; one implementation in the stack rather than two. #20 the dARSdS sign. exact_mean_open_shut_time was too large by exactly twice the dead time and the conditional means by once. This changes numbers a caller will have seen. #21 impose_resolution checked against RESHJC2.FOR interval for interval. #22 the simulator checked against Q-matrix theory for multi-state mechanisms, not only the two-state case where a reciprocal rate is the answer. #23 qmatlib.H inverted sI - QFF directly, which fails where the root search walks. The singularity is removable; only the factored form has a pole. #24 GPL-2.0-or-later rather than GPL-2.0-only, without which HJCFIT (GPL-3.0-or-later) could not depend on this at all. Both version files are bumped; the versions-agree gate added in #16 is what makes that hard to get wrong. Verified: the built wheel reports 1.2.0, carries its three data files, declares GPL-2.0-or-later, and Rate.is_free is present when installed from it into a clean environment. Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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The metadata over-claimed restriction relative to the code it describes.
No file in
scalcs/carries a licence notice of any kind, andLICENSE.MDis the bare GPL version 2 text — whose own section 9 says that where a program
specifies no version number, a recipient may choose any version the FSF has
published. The
"only"existed inpyproject.tomland nowhere else.Why it stopped being cosmetic
The fitting layer is going into HJCFIT, which is GPL-3.0-or-later and now
needs SCALCS for mechanism handling.
GPL-2.0-onlyand GPL-3.0 are mutuallyincompatible — the combination could not have been distributed at all.
MIT was considered and rejected
Three independent reasons, any one of which would be enough:
Schmidt-Hieber and one from Jens Hedegaard Nielsen. A permissive relicence
needs their agreement: a conversation, not a commit.
popen.py:195says so of
HJC_HILL.FOR. MIT would assert none of that is a derivativework, which is the stronger claim to have to defend.
GPL-2.0-or-later without difficulty. MIT's benefit is to third parties
outside the GPL world — worth revisiting on its own terms, not as a side
effect of a dependency decision.
Verified
The built wheel's metadata reads
License-Expression: GPL-2.0-or-later, andtwine check --strictpasses on both artifacts. 617 passing.The README now states the version where a reader will look, since no source file
does.
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