Thanks, Aahit, This confirms what I have read, namely that any Moodle plugin must be licensed under the GPL.
IANAL, but it is pretty clear that the plugin depends entirely on the Moodle infrastructure, runs inside of the Moodle system and uses the Moodle address space -- it is, in effect, "linked" to Moodle and thus generally understood to be a "derivative work". As I understand it, this does not affect the licensing of the VCL, since the Moodle plugin and the VCL system only transfer data. The secondary question is whether the VCL project can properly distribute GPL code. Clearly, this cannot be part of any VCL release. But can the VCL project distribute the plugin from its website, or should I make this available from some independent location? Thanks, Aaron On Aug 13, 2012, at 3:13 AM, Aahit wrote: > Hi, > > Plugin can be licensed under Apache 2.0 if it is communicating through > systems calls to Moodle. As per GPL, linking can create a derivative; hence > there is an incompatibility issue arises with apache. > > > If plugin is communicating through custom calls to XMLRPC API, that is a > derivative work according to GPL 3.0 license. > > > Regards, > > Aahit > > > > On Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 12:17 AM, Josh Thompson <[email protected]>wrote: > >> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- >> Hash: SHA1 >> >> Aaron, >> >> I'm think you can license your plugin for Moodle under whatever license you >> want, as long as it wasn't an extension of existing Moodle code. >> >> I've cc'd the legal list to verify this is correct. >> >> Legal list - a little more background: VCL is a cloud provisioning system. >> It has an XMLRPC API that allows other systems to interact with it. Aaron >> Coburn has written a plugin for Moodle that allows a user to make a >> reservation in VCL via a Moodle site. He would like to contribute this >> plugin >> to the VCL project. >> >> Thanks, >> Josh >> >> On Friday, August 10, 2012 6:35:04 PM Aaron Coburn wrote: >>> I have cleaned up the VCL block I wrote for Moodle and tested it with >>> version 2.3. I would like to release it, but one of you might be able to >>> give some insight into the licensing details. >>> >>> Moodle is licensed under the GPL v3 and the VCL is licensed under the >> Apache >>> license v2. Are there any incompatibilities there? Is there any reason >> that >>> the moodle plugin needs to be licensed under the GPL or can it be >> released >>> under the Apache license? I would like to make the license as compatible >> as >>> possible with the VCL so that the project would be able to distribute >> this >>> code as well (since there seems to be interest). >>> >>> Thanks in advance! >>> >>> Aaron >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Aaron Coburn >>> Systems Administrator and Programmer >>> Academic Technology Services, Amherst College >>> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> >> - -- >> - ------------------------------- >> Josh Thompson >> VCL Developer >> North Carolina State University >> >> my GPG/PGP key can be found at pgp.mit.edu >> >> All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which >> are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public >> Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties. >> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- >> Version: GnuPG v2.0.17 (GNU/Linux) >> >> iEYEARECAAYFAlAlV00ACgkQV/LQcNdtPQPoawCfWTvRFkONXjmnDXo5YrPPutSd >> pWwAmwYBhXFPTFE++E3GAK5sHXAXjmux >> =M+Vl >> -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- >> >> >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] >> For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] >> >>
