> an interesting note from the Apache Harmony project, we got on legal@: > <snip> > Harmony, OTOH, says that they have been extremely cautious and have > not allowed any developer to work on any part which they have > previously been exposed to. This is largely precautionary beyond > necessity. > </snip> > > perhaps we should also ensure a policy like that ?! >
+1. I can't speak for everyone, but that is definitely how my company operates. IANAL, but I've been lectured by several and my concern is that if MyFaces developers take the attitude that "seeing how the RI does it" isn't a big deal then my role on this project may be in jeopardy because I won't know if I've been inadvertantly exposed to a "copy-but-not-really-a-copy-and-paste" of Sun code and it could expose my company to all sorts of unforeseen legal implications. I know it seems silly to be so paranoid about code that's available "freely", but the reality is that MyFaces is shipped in commercial products and it would be unethical to leave those products vulnerable to legal attack because they may be violating Sun's IP unknowingly. There is precedent here... remember SCO? So, in this case I strongly suggest that MyFaces contributors follow the advice of the legal lowest common denominator (or in this case perhaps it's the greatest common denominator :D) and not look at RI code AT ALL. Thanks, Curtiss Howard
