On Feb 6, 2008, at 11:07 AM, Jay D. McHugh wrote:
Hello all,
It looks like MySQL has specifically granted an exception to their
usual GPL license requirement for a list of FLOSS licenses - ASF 2.0
included:
http://www.mysql.com/company/legal/licensing/foss-exception.html
In fact, the Apache Portable Runtime library is the only
specifically listed library/package listed on that exclusion page.
So I think we could distribute the roller-mysql-database plugin if
we wanted to - there is already a precedent at the ASF.
The MySQL FLOSS exception *only* applies when used under the terms of
an OSI license. Apache allows it's software to be re-licensed under
any license (open source or proprietary). The FLOSS exception prevents
this.
Or, could we change the way that the plugin is built so that it just
has a dependency on a MySQL driver being loaded in the repository?
That way, we could give a fairly simple set of instructions on
downloading the library from MySQL and loading the jar files into
the repository before trying to load the plugin. In my personal
setup, I already had a MySQL driver loaded - having one bundled just
means that now I have two.
Yes. However, it should not be something which maven (or Geronimo)
does automatically or implicitly (e.g. without the user's awareness).
The user must be aware of his actions and the implications of these
actions.
I haven't played with creating any plugins yet, so I don't know if
the system we have now allows for creating a plugin that doesn't
bundle in the dependencies. Is that something that can be done?
If we can build plugins that do not necessarily bundle in the
dependencies then I think that would be the best way of handling
plugins that would bring up licensing questions. If we cannot, then
it looks like we will need to put some procedure in place to review
plugins that include third party code before they can be hosted by us.
Right. As long as there is an explicit user action that causes the
download/installation to occur and as long as we make it clear to the
user that this action is retrieving a GPL/FLOSS licensed artifact, we
should be good.
--kevan
