Legal issues

• Each contributor must make sure her code is under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
• We must understand ownership of existing code and algorithms.
  • Obviously: don't use or translate non-free code. Such as: Numerical Recipes, ACM TOMS. Note that the ACM algorithms are not public domain, even though they are distributed on the internet -- the ACM uses a special non-commercial license which is not compatible with the GPL. The details of this license can be found on the cover page of ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software or on the ACM Website. Only use code which is explicitly under a free license: GPL or Public Domain. If there is no license on the code then this does not mean it is public domain -- an explicit statement is required (see the Debian Free Software Guidelines for details). If in doubt check with the author.
  • I think one can reference algorithms from classic books on numerical analysis.