Hello, The XDoclet project (http://xdoclet.sourceforge.net/) is considering applying for Jakarta/Apache membership. Before we get into that process, we'd like to clarify some licensing issues we think we might have.
XJavaDoc (a sub project of XDoclet) is a library that parses Java source files and makes information about the source files (including comments and JavaDoc tags) available via an API. The XJavaDoc API is similar to the com.sun.javadoc API, which is the core of Sun's JavaDoc engine. XJavaDoc is used in favour of Sun's JavaDoc core because it is faster, more feature rich, and we have complete control over the source code. XJavaDoc and JavaDoc offer very similar functionality, and have similar APIs. The main differences are: 1) XJavaDoc returns java.util.Collection where JavaDoc returns arrays. 2) XJavaDoc uses Java Bean style naming conventions for methods. JavaDoc doesn't. 3) XJavaDoc delegates all JavaDoc comment information to an XDoc class. JavaDoc uses an inheritance model. 4) XJavaDoc's parser is implemented with JavaCC, JavaDoc uses proprietary sun.* classes from the javac compiler. 5) XJavaDoc's API does not use or implement any of the com.sun.javadoc classes. 6) XJavaDoc has a richer API than JavaDoc. Furthermore: 7) XJavaDoc only has runtime dependencies to Jakarta Commons Logging and Jakarta Commons Collections. 8) XJavaDoc's API: http://xdoclet.sourceforge.net/xjavadoc/apidocs/ (Look at XJavaDoc, XClass, XMethod, XDoc and XTag for starters). 9) XJavaDoc in ViewCVS: http://cvs.xdoclet.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/xdoclet/xjavadoc/ 10) XJavaDoc in CVS: xjavadoc CVS module: http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=31602 We believe that these differences are sufficient in order to avoid potential licensing problems with Sun. QUESTIONS TO THE JAKARTA TEAM: 1) Can anyone with more knowledge about licenses tell me whether XJavaDoc is in violation with Sun's license for JavaDoc? 2) Would it be fair to claim that XJavaDoc is *not* a clean room implementation of JavaDoc? 3) Is there anything we should do (from a legal perspective) before we start working on a proposal for Jakarta/Apache membership for XDoclet/XJavaDoc? Best regards, Aslak Helles�y - The XDoclet Team. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
