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for Event Generator Authors and Users
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This generator has been developed as part of an academic research
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project and is the result of many years of work by the authors.
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Proper academic recognition is a requirement for its continued
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The components of the program have been developed to work together
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as a coherent physics framework. We believe that the creation of
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separately maintained forks or piecewise distribution of individual
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parts would diminish their scientific value.
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The authors are convinced that software development in a scientific
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context requires full availability of all source code, to further
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progress and to allow local modifications to meet the specific
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requirements of the individual user.
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Therefore we have decided to release this program under the
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GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2. This ensures
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that the source code will be available to you and grants you the
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freedom to use and modify the program. You can redistribute your
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modified versions as long as you retain the GPL and respect existing
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copyright notices (see the file 'COPYING' for details).
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By using the GPL, we entrust you with considerable freedom and expect
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you to use it wisely, since the GPL does not address the issues in
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the first two paragraphs. To remedy this shortcoming, we have
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formulated the following guidelines relevant for the distribution
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and usage of event generator software in an academic setting.
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1) The integrity of the program should be respected.
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1.1) Suspected bugs and proposed fixes should be reported back to the
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original authors to be considered for inclusion in the standard
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distribution. No independently developed and maintained forks
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should be created as long as the original authors actively work on
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1.2) The program should normally be redistributed in its entirety.
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When there are special reasons, an agreement should be sought with
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the original authors to redistribute only specific parts. This
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should be arranged such that the redistributed parts remain
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updated in step with the standard distribution.
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1.3) Any changes in the code must be clearly marked in the source
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(reason, author, date) and documented. If any modified version is
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redistributed it should be stated at the point of distribution
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(download link) that it has been modified and why.
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1.4) If a significant part of the code is used by another program,
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this should be clearly specified in that program's documentation and
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stated at its point of distribution.
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1.5) Copyright information and references may not be removed.
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Copyright-related program messages may not be altered and must be
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printed even if only a part of the program is used. Adding further
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messages specifying any modifications is encouraged.
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2) The program and its physics should be properly cited when used for
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2.1) The main software reference as designated by the program authors
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should always be cited.
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2.2) In addition, the original literature on which the program is based
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should be cited to the extent that it is of relevance for a study,
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applying the same threshold criteria as for other literature.
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2.3) When several programs are combined, they should all be mentioned,
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commensurate with their importance for the physics study at hand.
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2.4) To make published results reproducible, the exact versions of the
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codes that were used and any relevant program and parameter
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modifications should be spelled out.
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The copyright license of the software is the GPL v2 alone, therefore
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the above guidelines are not legally binding. However, we reserve the
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right to criticize offenders. The guidelines should always be combined
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with common sense, for interpretation and for issues not covered.
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Enquiries regarding the guidelines and related issues are encouraged
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and should be directed to the authors of the program.
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Please note that the program, including all its code and documentation,
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is intended for academic use and is delivered "as is" to be used at
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your own risk, without any guarantees.
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These guidelines were edited by Nils Lavesson and David Grellscheid
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for the MCnet collaboration, which has approved and agreed to respect
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them. MCnet is a Marie Curie Research Training Network funded under
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Framework Programme 6 contract MRTN-CT-2006-035606.