On Thu, Dec 16, 1999 at 05:15:50PM -0500, Michael Emmel wrote:
> Dick Hollenbeck wrote:
>
> > If you lose your clean room status, you are like a
> > house of cards. Be careful about an army of guys working
> > concurrently with code from Sun.
>
> One reason I'm hesistant to contribute to classpath I often must look at Sun
> code : (
That is a pity. Since if you have looked at the Sun source code it is very hard
to prove that your implementation of the same ideas is indeed clean room.
But don't be afraid to ask on the list or directly to Paul Fisher. If you
explain the precise details people can give advise on what you can and cannot
contribute.
> I work in embbeded systems I did not interpet the LGPL to prevent me
> from using classpath since I did not interpet the LGPL as Paul Fisher did.
> And he may be correct about the license. Wich is a real bummer for me.
I think noting prevents you from using the combination of Classpath and Sun
classes. Only distributing them together is probably restricted by Suns
license.
> On many occasions I have wanted to use and contribute to a Open Source
> product but many times the interpetation of the License makes this difficult.
> There seems to be no way for a company to get a "official" interpetation of
> the GPL and LGPL under various conditions.
> Every now and then RMS will "rule" on a issue.
> This is not good for promoting the GPL and LGPL inside a company.
> If the FSF had some way to interact legally with a Company over interpetation
> of the GPL and LGPL it would be very nice.
> I for example have never felt clear on how they apply to java.
The best way to find out what you can and cannot distribute under a license
(free or proprietary) is to let a lawyer look at it and explaining what you
actually want to distribute. I also found that just mailing the FSF or RMS
about anything license related always results in a nice friendly email with
some explanation about any issues I had.
> If classpath was actually was complete and robust then I would not have this
> problem either : )
People are working on it. Just sit back and relax :)
Cheers,
Mark
