0004: Copyright and license confirmed by Auburn University

Date: 2026-10-08. Status: accepted.

Context

lean-pkg was developed with support from NSF awards. Before a public release, the maintainer asked Auburn University’s office for intellectual property (IPX) whether an open-source release needs approval. IPX replied that Auburn has an ownership interest in the software, that releasing it under an open-source license is consistent with the awards, and asked about third-party code. The maintainer listed the one runtime dependency (PyYAML, MIT, installed separately) and the two vendored Apache-2.0 files, and proposed a joint copyright notice.

Decision

On 2026-10-08 IPX agreed to the proposed notice and to distribution under the Apache License 2.0. The notice is:

Copyright (c) 2026 Le Chen and Auburn University

It appears in LICENSE (appendix line), NOTICE, REUSE.toml and the README’s license section; a test keeps them identical.

Consequences

• Gate G6 of the public-flip checklist (institutional determination) is met.
• Vendored third-party files keep their own notices; NOTICE lists them.
• A future change of holder or license needs a new decision.