[R] S-PLUS 8 beta program [repost]

[Philippe Grosjean]

This is an excellent initiative! But how can you integrate GPL code in a 
software that is not GPL? As far as I understand it, GPL is a 
contaminant license, imposing to the whole software to be GPL too (or 
providing at least similar freedom). I have no doubt that you solved 
this problem. I am just curious about the solution you found.
Best regards,

Philippe Grosjean

..............................................<°}))><........
  ) ) ) ) )
( ( ( ( (    Prof. Philippe Grosjean
  ) ) ) ) )
( ( ( ( (    Numerical Ecology of Aquatic Systems
  ) ) ) ) )   Mons-Hainaut University, Pentagone (3D08)
( ( ( ( (    Academie Universitaire Wallonie-Bruxelles
  ) ) ) ) )   8, av du Champ de Mars, 7000 Mons, Belgium
( ( ( ( (
  ) ) ) ) )   phone: + 32.65.37.34.97, fax: + 32.65.37.30.54
( ( ( ( (    email: Philippe.Grosjean at umh.ac.be
  ) ) ) ) )
( ( ( ( (    web:   http://www.umh.ac.be/~econum
  ) ) ) ) )          http://www.sciviews.org
( ( ( ( (
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David Smith wrote:
> [Sorry about the duplicate posting; this one comes from the correct address.
> Please respond to me with any questions about this -- David.]
> 
> Dear R-help readers, 
> 
> 	As Insightful announced at the DSC2005 meeting in Seattle, the next
> release of S-PLUS will introduce a new package system. Our goal is to provide
> package authors the means to create cutting-edge statistical methods
> currently available either as R packages or as S-PLUS library sections and
> deliver them to the entire community of S-PLUS and R users.
> 
> 	In this release of S-PLUS, we plan to implement many low-level
> utility functions with the same API as R. Just as many R functions originated
> in S-PLUS, we plan on re-implementing many R functions in S-PLUS to provide
> S-PLUS users the ability to create packages of their work and distribute them
> to others as R users have done for many years. In the future, we expect
> package authors will be able to create a single package that will run in both
> environments. The actual package system would be a port of the R package
> system code, which furthers the exchangeability of S-PLUS and R code. The
> ported code will be available in a GPL library called Rcompat
> 
> 	To demonstrate that R packages can now be ported to S-PLUS, we have -
> with the permissions of the authors - ported several R packages to run as
> S-PLUS packages. We are planning to make these packages available for
> download from an Insightful-hosted website (called csan.insightful.com for
> consistency with the CRAN site of R packages). The license terms of the
> source packages will always be respected, and these packages will all be
> available under their original open-source license. Any improvements to
> open-source packages, whether by Insightful or by others, will remain
> open-source. Our intent will be to grow the list of open-source,
> cross-system-compatible packages over time. 
> 
> 	While most existing R packages will not run automatically in S-PLUS,
> with some effort, a user should be able to port an existing R package to an
> S-PLUS package. More important, by using functions and interfaces now
> available in both systems, a user should be able to create a single package
> that will run in both S-PLUS and R in the future. (The judicious use of some
> system-specific if(is.R()) statement will help to this end.) As a proof of
> concept, we are developing a package that will run on both systems.  In the
> future, we hope to post this package on both CSAN and CRAN sites. We are also
> working to provide S-PLUS library sections from our research group as S-PLUS
> packages that would also work in R. 
> 
> 	Our work on the S-PLUS package functionality is ongoing. We expect to
> begin beta testing in April. We invite R package authors who are interested
> in testing their packages in S-PLUS to participate in the beta test. As a
> beta participant, you will receive a beta version of S-PLUS that will be
> fully functional until the end of the beta period. You will also be able to
> send input to the development team regarding the S-PLUS package system. If
> you are a package author, and you are interested in participating in the beta
> test, see the full details on the S-PLUS 8 beta test and complete the
> registration form at the Insightful website:
> 
> 
> 	http://www.insightful.com/support/splus8beta/
> 	 
> 
> 	Best regards from the S-PLUS product management team,
> 
> 	Patrick Aboyoun (S-PLUS Platform)
> 	Michael O'Connell (Life Sciences) 
> 	David Smith (Finance)
> 
> --
> David M Smith <dsmith at insightful.com>
> Senior Product Manager, Insightful Corp, Seattle WA
> Tel: +1 (206) 802 2360
> Fax: +1 (206) 283 6310
> 
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