Le 21/10/2022 à 13:19, Bertil Chapuis a écrit :
(…snip…) You are right, apparently the output of a generator inherits the license of the template. (…snip…) George and Martin, do you have experience with this kind of issues and on how to address it?
In my understanding of [1], the GPL-derived work needs to be an optional feature. The Baremaps version downloaded from Apache servers shall not include GPL-copyrighted feature and should be able to work without it. However it is okay to offer this feature as an optional download after Baremaps installation.
Apache NetBeans had a similar process for "nb-javac". When launching NetBeans for the first time, a popup dialog appeared and offered to download nb-javac with a clear notice that it is under GPL license. If the user refuses, NetBeans still work with only some functionality degraded. Apache SIS does something similar with EPSG geodetic database: when starting the JavaFX application, a dialog box appears offering user to download EPSG dataset with a clear notice that they are under EPSG terms of use. If the user refuses, Apache SIS will still work but CRS will have to be defined by other means than EPSG codes (e.g. using WKT instead).
In the case of Baremaps, if the GPL-derived work is just one format among others and if there is good free alternatives, what about not even bothering user with a dialog box and just document in the web site that support for this format is an extension available as a separated download? The source code could not be included in Apache releases however; it would have to be somewhere else. Maybe a "Baremaps extension" project on GitHib?
Martin [1]https://www.apache.org/legal/resolved.html#optional
