I am not sure how I feel about this one Martin; the presence of a GeoTools fork
under a more permissive license seriously effects the value proposition of
GeoTools. Both for those who have contributed to the project under the
understanding of an LGPL license (and thus expect any fixes made to the
codebase to made available to "at least" end users); and also with
organisations we work with on both ends of the license spectrum.
thoughts:
- Perhaps this will be easier if we consider things on a case-by-case basis
(which apparently is your preference for working with Apache?)
- Personally I have also entertained the though of changing the GeoTools
license; in part to my exposure to other license models via the eclipse
foundation.
I cannot see the value for the GeoTools project in making GeoTools 2.6 (even a
fork) available under a more permissive license; unless GeoTools also moved to
a more permissive license. I think it would put the project at too much of a
disadvantage.
What we can do is put this on the agenda for our next GeoTools meeting. Thank
you for approaching us on this matter; rather then proceeding ahead in
isolation. I also note your shortlist of modules, which will help discussion.
--
Jody Garnett
On Sunday, 22 July 2012 at 12:28 AM, Martin Desruisseaux wrote:
> Hello all
>
> I'm Martin Desruisseaux, a former GeoTools 2 contributor and now a
> developer of the Geotoolkit.org project (http://www.geotoolkit.org).
>
> In our search for a community, we had a recent discussion with members
> of the Apache Spatial Information System project
> (http://incubator.apache.org/sis/), which is in incubation. A small
> email exchange gave me the feeling that our design goals could be in
> phase. We would like to offer them the Geotoolkit.org (http://Geotoolkit.org)
> code. In order to
> make that possible, we need OSGeo permission to re-license
> Geotoolkit.org (http://Geotoolkit.org) from its current LGPL 2.1 license to
> the more permissive
> Apache license. The proposal is not to transfer the totality of
> Geotoolkit.org (http://Geotoolkit.org) to Apache SIS, but to allow them to
> review the code and
> pick-up whatever they wish on a case-by-case basis. The transition to
> Apache SIS would probably be slow and very progressive.
>
> Geotoolkit.org (http://Geotoolkit.org) is a fork of GeoTools 2.6 followed by
> 4 years of
> developments. The project contains two parts: "core" and "pending". Our
> proposal is to begin with the "core" part, which include material
> derived from the following GeoTools 2.6 modules:
>
> * utilities
> * metadata
> * referencing
> * core of coverage (excluding I/O)
> * many (but not all) Swing widgets
>
> In 2008 those modules were written (according SVN history) at 95% by
> myself, Geomatys or IRD institute. The remaining 5% were written by
> other GeoTools contributors. To my knowledge, everyone signed the
> copyright assignment on http://download.osgeo.org/osgeo/legal/ which
> grants copyright to OSGeo. However because the GeoTools community may
> have vested interest in this re-licensing decision, I wish to ask on
> this mailing list.
>
> I would like to emphases that this is not a demand for relicensing
> current GeoTools, but only relicensing of the GeoTools 2.6 code from
> which "Geotidy" (the Geotoolkit.org (http://Geotoolkit.org) precursor) is
> derived, which is 4
> years old. If the community accepts to grant us the permission to
> relicense 100% of Geotoolkit.org (http://Geotoolkit.org) "core", that would
> be truly
> appreciated. But in case of objection, we are willing to rewrite the 5%
> of "core" code which was not written by myself, Geomatys or IRD.
>
> It the community accepts re-licensing, this would allows Apache SIS to
> gain services they are currently missing, allows Geotoolkit.org
> (http://Geotoolkit.org) code
> base to gain a community, and possibly allows the GeoTools project to
> gain a metadata and referencing library maintained by a trusted
> foundation, which could complete or replace the current referencing
> module as GeoTools wish. The Geotk referencing module got 4 years of
> extensive development since our departure, and has capabilities which
> are - to my knowledge - unique in the open source world.
>
> Regards,
>
> Martin Desruisseaux
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Live Security Virtual Conference
> Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and
> threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions
> will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware
> threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/
> _______________________________________________
> GeoTools-Devel mailing list
> GeoTools-Devel@lists.sourceforge.net
> (mailto:GeoTools-Devel@lists.sourceforge.net)
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/geotools-devel
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Live Security Virtual Conference
Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and
threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions
will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware
threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/
_______________________________________________
GeoTools-Devel mailing list
GeoTools-Devel@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/geotools-devel
