I really hate to see it go, but if it must it must. We can always replace it later if we find something suitable.

-Damien


On Jun 1, 2008, at 2:07 PM, Christopher Lenz wrote:

On 26.05.2008, at 01:16, Christopher Lenz wrote:
[...]
1. Licensing problem: Javascript Shell

CouchDB includes a JS shell that is derived from <http://www.squarefree.com/shell/ >. Initially it was pretty much a verbatim copy, but it has been changed to integrate nicely into our Futon web interface. The JS Shell is, according to the above web page, "GPL/LGPL/MPL tri- licensed". However, there's no actual license or copyright statement to be found anywhere.

None of those three licenses are without problems for an Apache project. See <http://people.apache.org/~rubys/3party.html>. GPL and LGPL "must not apply to any software within an Apache product", and the MPL requires "requires that the distribution of modifications or derivative works be made available under the same license as the original work".

In addition for the MPL, "Code that is more substantial, more volatile, or not directly consumed at runtime in source form may only be distributed in binary form." As the JS shell is just an HTML and a Javascript file, there's no way we could distribute it in binary form, so AFAICT it will need to be nuked completely.

Maybe someone with more knowledge of these legal issues can chime in here.
[...]

This hasn't seen any responses unfortunately.

As far as I can tell the only option is to remove the JS shell completely. (Well, the other option would be to write a new one from scratch, but hey, let's be realistic.) In my opinion, you can get a better shell using Firebug anyway, just browse to the test suite and open the inner frame in a separate window.

So I'd say if there are no objections to the removal of the JS shell within the next couple of days, I'll go forward with it. And if you have objections, you'll need to do the research to make sure there's no licencing problem lurking here. ;)

Cheers,
--
Christopher Lenz
 cmlenz at gmx.de
 http://www.cmlenz.net/


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