All,
Some interesting news.
Summary
========
* The license for code is changing from the early LGPL v 2.1 to 3.0
effective the Beta of OpenOffice.org 3.0. (The actual date of this
beta has not been finalized.)
* The Joint Copyright Assignment form (JCA) is being replaced by the
Sun Microsystems Inc. Contributor Agreement (SCA). This change is
effective immediately with this announcement.
Background
==========
Late last year, there was a discussion about the implications of the
ratification of GPLv3 or LGPLv3 for OpenOffice.org among the
OpenOffice.org project leads. The leads were generally in favour of
adopting the updated licenses. The outcome of this and other
discussions is that Sun is changing the license for the OpenOffice.org
codebase to the more flexible and protective LGPL v3 [0], effective
with the beta of OpenOffice.org 3.0 which is due later this year. This
change is supported by the OpenOffice.org Community Council.
This move forward is the natural evolutionary step to take for a
codebase using a license from the FSF license family. The drafting
process for the license involved substantial FOSS community input and
we will benefit from this work. In particular, the new license
includes additional protections for the community against software
patents.
OpenOffice.org will continue using the LGPL so as to minimize the
disruption to our community and expanding ecosystem, which evolved
around the LGPL codebase. The LGPL grants flexibility to a broad range
of users and developers, while still ensuring that modifications to
the code are contributed back to the community.
The new license is a major reason to exchange the Joint Copyright
Assignment(JCA) with the Sun Contributor Agreement(SCA) [1]. For
OpenOffice.org there will be an addendum, which accommodates
developers of the core OOo codebase and of non-core extensions through
different contribution models. It does not change the fact that
contributions to the product packaged as OpenOffice.org require an SCA.
The addendum enables OpenOffice.org to more easily host the source
code of extensions, and thus promotes collaboration with other
interested parties on the respective extension in a familiar
environment. There is similar flexibility for documentation. The
creation of the related contribution guidelines is in progress.
A large number of GPL/LGPL projects have already moved to v3 [2]. For
OpenOffice.org the next major release is the right time to change.
Preparations will start immediately, so that we can publish
OpenOffice.org 3.0 Beta under LGPLv3.
The SCA, including the OpenOffice.org addendum, will be published on
the OpenOffice.org site together with a FAQ and a pointer to the Sun
SCA FAQ [3]. It comes into effect with this announcement. See also our
FAQ on licensing. [4].
A copy of this announcement can be found at http://www.openoffice.org/licenses/newlicense2008.html
.
Regards,
Louis Suarez-Potts
Community Manager
OpenOffice.org
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
[0] http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/lgpl.html
[1] http://www.openoffice.org/licenses/sca.pdf
[2] http://gpl3.palamida.com:8080/index.jsp
[3] http://www.sun.com/software/opensource/contributor_agreement.jsp
[4] http://www.openoffice.org/FAQs/faq-licensing.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
