Create and use JSON Table Descriptors and Data Managers

[sjperkins]

Partially addresses #3

[sjperkins]

Dear @tammojan. I wish to relicense some C++ code derived from the following PR's I wrote for python-casacore (LGPLv3.0 ) under the BSD3 license for this project (arcae):

• Add methods for creating a default MS casacore/python-casacore#72
• Expose complete MS and subtable definitions casacore/python-casacore#183

In particular these if-else segments: https://github.com/ratt-ru/arcae/pull/51/files#diff-3b22269ce47ffb304bf26aece8e3cd9bcd648eb0fde56e3c6d1be8ee062bf994R60-R249 are derived from the above PRs.

The reason for using BSD-3 in this repository is that this is the license that we negotiated with NRF for performing open-source work.

I believe the relicensing is possible because I was the sole author of this code: https://github.com/casacore/python-casacore/commits/master/src/pyms.cc and due to the line of reasoning described here:

How would I take some code that I contributed to project A under LGPL-3 and relicense it under BSD-3 into project B? Please provide references.

If you contributed code to Project A under the LGPL-3 license, you can still relicense your own contributions under the BSD-3 license for use in Project B, provided you are the sole copyright holder of the code in question. Here are the steps you need to follow:

Verify Ownership: Ensure that you are the sole copyright holder of the code you wish to relicense. If others have contributed to the sections of the code you wish to relicense, you will need their permission to change the license.

Choose the Correct BSD-3 License: The BSD-3 license, also known as the "New BSD License" or "Modified BSD License," is a permissive open-source license. Make sure to include the full BSD-3 license text in your code.

Update the License: Replace the LGPL-3 license text in your files with the BSD-3 license text. It is good practice to include a note in the file or the commit message that you are changing the license from LGPL-3 to BSD-3.

Notify Project A: Inform the maintainers of Project A about the change in license for your contributions, even though you are not required to do so.

Contribute to Project B: You can now contribute your code to Project B under the BSD-3 license. Make sure the maintainers of Project B are aware that your code is licensed under BSD-3.

It is important to note that this process only applies to your own contributions and not to the entire codebase of Project A. Additionally, this does not change the license of your contributions in Project A; it merely allows you to contribute the same code to Project B under a different license.

References:

The LGPL-3 license permits relicensing under any terms, provided you comply with the requirements of the LGPL-3 license for the code in question. See the full text of the LGPL-3 license for more details: GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0.

The BSD-3 license is a permissive open-source license that allows you to redistribute the code with or without modification. See the full text of the BSD-3 license for more details: BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" license.

Remember that you can only relicense your own contributions and that this process does not change the license of your contributions in Project A or the license of Project A as a whole.

[sjperkins]

Following the argument from https://opensource.stackexchange.com/a/38, in 9cf2344 I've added comments in the relevant files explaining the provenance of the code from:

• https://github.com/casacore/python-casacore/commits/v3.5.2/src/pyms.cc

and from

• Add methods for creating a default MS casacore/python-casacore#72
• Expose complete MS and subtable definitions casacore/python-casacore#183

mentioning that as the author I've relicensed part of the code here under BSD-3. This does not change the python-casacore's LGPLv3 licensing of the original code.

I'm intending to submit this soon.

[tammojan]

Dear @tammojan. I wish to relicense some C++ code derived from the following PR's I wrote for python-casacore (LGPLv3.0 ) under the BSD3 license for this project (arcae).

This looks fine to me. Let me know if you expect me to do anything.

[sjperkins]

Dear @tammojan. I wish to relicense some C++ code derived from the following PR's I wrote for python-casacore (LGPLv3.0 ) under the BSD3 license for this project (arcae).

This looks fine to me. Let me know if you expect me to do anything.

Thank you :-)

[sjperkins]

I don't think I need anything else from you