License/redistribution of Fortran source from Netlib ??

[Robert Dodier]

Hello all,

I wasn't able to find this topic discussed in the mailing
list archives or Octave FAQ or website, so here goes.

I see that some part of Octave is based on source code
from Netlib (and doubtless other archives as well).
For example, the quadpack source code seems to be 
redistributed verbatim.

Some time ago I tried to find out from the Netlib 
maintainers what was the license for the archive source
code. I wasn't really satisfied with the answer, which
if remember correctly, was "Should be OK to use it for
whatever you want; if in doubt contact the authors.
We are trying to get authors to explicitly state a license."

Can someone associated with Octave tell me what they
know about licensing Netlib or other archive source code?

Thanks for your time. I appreciate your help.

--Robert Dodier