Conditions of use of FORM
The use of the FORM program and programs in the distribution is free of
charge but subject to the following conditions:
1: The programs are `as is'. That is, the author is not to be held
responsible in any way for any errors or malfunctioning of the programs.
2: The programs are not to be redistributed in any version that is modified
from the original distribution unless with the specific consent of the
author. In particular this license file is to be part of any redistribution.
3: The programs are not to be redistributed in exchange for money or made
part of any commercial deal without the explicit written consent of the
author.
4: When the FORM program is used for scientific work that leads to
publication in a scientific journal, this work should refer to the use of
FORM by the following citation:
J.A.M.Vermaseren "New features of FORM" math-ph/0010025
or something similar that is acceptable for the journal of publication.
Some remarks:
ad 1:
It is always wise to make cross checks on your calculations. It is
virtually impossible to make 1.5 Mbytes of code without errors. If you do
believe that you ran into an error, please try to make a bug report and try
to keep it as concise as possible. Send bug reports to form@nikhef.nl.
ad 2:
It is to nobodies advantage if different versions of programs start
floating around. If someone has a sensible modification of any of the
programs, please send it to form@nikhef.nl. If possible I will then include
this modification in the distribution (with mentioning the source of it).
ad 3:
If somebody is going to earn money by distributing FORM or making it
part of a commercial product, maybe it is not a bad idea to not forget the
author. Sounds reasonable to me.
ad 4:
My home institute has allowed me to spend enormous amounts of time on
the making and improving of FORM. At the same time, one of the ways they
measure `productivity' is by citations. It would be nice to show them
something for all this work. It has been my biggest error not to publish a
paper about FORM when version 1 came out. This is my attempt at repairing
this.
More remarks:
If you do not agree with the above conditions, you have two options:
either you do not use FORM and the other programs included in the
distribution, or you let the author know about reasonable improvements of
the conditions that have to be mutually acceptable. In the last case
you might still be allowed to use the programs, provided the author agrees
with the modification of the conditions.
If you agree with the above, and if you manage to get everything installed,
please enjoy.