Ok, after more discussions and a thread over on Apache's legal-discuss, it looks like we are generally fine for category X dependencies for optional features as long as we don't distribute binaries that include the feature. Since the benchmarks are non-user facing, it isn't a problem to not distribute binaries.
My last message on legal discuss included: Ok, my interpretation is that our benchmark modules are an "optional > feature" since they aren't intended for end user use. They are intended for > developers to test the system. > That said, at least for ORC, I intend to take the additional steps: > * Remove the benchmark module from the top-level build scripts. This will > ensure that it is only built explicitly by the developer. > * Not publish the binaries from the benchmark module to Maven Central or > as convenience binaries. > Any concerns? .. Owen
