GPL license compatible with ParMetis

February 24, 2008, 17:29

Hi,
how comes OpenFOAM is distributed under GPL although ParMetis, which is included in the distribution, is not?

Is there another mesh partitioner compatible with GPL, which I can use instead of ParMetis?

Guillaume

mattijs · February 25, 2008, 14:06

We have explicit permission to distribute Metis/ParMetis with OpenFOAM. However the usage is still controlled by the Metis license.

Alternatively the hierarchical decomposer is good but only uses geometry so does not take into account the actual mesh connectivity.

bastil · February 16, 2009, 05:20

So that means the use of Metis/parMetris in conjunction with OF is only permitted for private and academical use but not for commerical use, right? Are there other packages having this limitation?

Regards BastiL

galap · August 8, 2018, 05:48

*push*

I stumbled upon this discussion. The license text is still the same:

ParMETIS is copyrighted by the Regents of the University of Minnesota. It can be freely used for educational and research purposes by non-profit institutions and US government agencies only. Other organizations are allowed to use ParMETIS only for evaluation purposes, and any further uses will require prior approval

Does anyone know how OpenCFD deals with this?

February 24, 2008, 17:29	Hi, how comes OpenFOAM is dis	#1
guillaume Guest Posts: n/a	Hi, how comes OpenFOAM is distributed under GPL although ParMetis, which is included in the distribution, is not? Is there another mesh partitioner compatible with GPL, which I can use instead of ParMetis? Guillaume

February 25, 2008, 14:06	We have explicit permission to	#2
mattijs Senior Member Mattijs Janssens Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 1,419 Rep Power: 26	We have explicit permission to distribute Metis/ParMetis with OpenFOAM. However the usage is still controlled by the Metis license. Alternatively the hierarchical decomposer is good but only uses geometry so does not take into account the actual mesh connectivity.

February 16, 2009, 05:20	So that means the use of Metis	#3
bastil Senior Member BastiL Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 530 Rep Power: 20	So that means the use of Metis/parMetris in conjunction with OF is only permitted for private and academical use but not for commerical use, right? Are there other packages having this limitation? Regards BastiL

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August 8, 2018, 05:48		#4
galap Member Fabian E. Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 38 Rep Power: 17	push I stumbled upon this discussion. The license text is still the same: ParMETIS is copyrighted by the Regents of the University of Minnesota. It can be freely used for educational and research purposes by non-profit institutions and US government agencies only. Other organizations are allowed to use ParMETIS only for evaluation purposes, and any further uses will require prior approval Does anyone know how OpenCFD deals with this?