Hello,
I should have sent the original email in plain text rather than HTML, so I am resending it. Please give me suggestions regarding my email below. Thanks.
Kevin
···
________________________________
From: Kevin Davies <daviesk24@...42...>
To: "matplotlib-devel@lists.sourceforge.net" <matplotlib-devel@...743...forge.net>
Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2011 2:32 PM
Subject: Sankey diagram toolkit
Hello,
I'm new to the matplotlib-devel list, but I wanted to ask for your opinions and suggestions about sharing a toolkit/module for drawing Sankey diagrams. I've continued from the work of Yannick Chopin (see http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/examples/api/sankey_demo.html) to help support more complex diagrams. I'm attaching an example.
Specifically, I'd like to know:
1. Would the matplotlib community be interested in the code shared under a GPL license? Due to the fact that there are companies selling Sankey software (see http://www.sankey-diagrams.com/sankey-diagram-software/), I'd rather keep a little more control than BSD provides.
2. If there is interest, would the code be best shared as a matplotlib toolkit? It seems so, but I don't think it directly fits with any of the other current toolkits.
3. If it is best shared as a toolkit, how would I go about doing it? Currently, the code exists as about 900 lines of Python with five examples and inline documentation. Do I need to make special preparations?
Thank you!
Kevin
Hey Kevin,
the toolkit looks quite nice and we would be happy to distribute it,
but we require a BSD compatible license (for a rationale, please see
http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/devel/coding_guide.html#license-discussion).
Although we could technically distribute a GPL licensed product as a
toolkit, I think it might be confusing to users so I prefer to keep
everything in our distribution BSD compatible. I think the benefits
of having your code part of the core distribution with users seeing
samples on our web pages and gallery outweigh the risks that someone
might sell your code, but that is just my opinion. Having a lot of
visibility and users increases the odds that others will contribute to
and extend your toolkit. Personally, it doesn't bother me that
companies sell products that use matplotlib, despite having
contributed a considerable amount of time on the code. Some of these
companies have expressed interest in supporting matplotlib development
via donations or sponsored features. But I understand that you may
feel otherwise.
If you elect to keep your code under a GPL license, feel free to
distribute it as you see fit. Many scientific computing projects in
python use github. Google code is another option. We would be happy
to link to your code from our existing sankey examples, etc.
···
On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 8:46 AM, Kevin Davies <daviesk24@...42...> wrote:
Hello,
I should have sent the original email in plain text rather than HTML, so I am resending it. Please give me suggestions regarding my email below. Thanks.