Usual disclaimer: I AM NOT A LAWYER.
I've been following this rather painful discussion and have a few questions:
1.) The question of whether or not the virality of the GPL comes into play
hinges on the definition of "platform". Is this correct?
2.) If 1.) is correct then who gets to decide what constitutes a platform?
This seems particularly important because the GPL, itself, does not define it.
I mean the GNU lawyers can come up with whatever definition they like, but if
they come after me for violating the GPL can't I contest their definition? A
license holder can't come in and arbitrarily change terms or definitions of
terms to bolster their claim, can they? Since the GPL has never been
challenged it all seems very hypothetical to claim that the GNU lawyers have
the only valid definition of what constitutes a Java platform. It doesn't even
seem to me that Sun has the right to unilaterally decide what constitutes a
Java plaform as it pertains to the GPL. While it may be true that the courts
can come up with some rather nonintuitive decisions, the courts are not
completely divorced from all common sense considerations. In fact, they apply
common sense and consider practical implications to their decisions all of the
time. So, a common sense legal definition of platform does seem possible.
3.) Because of all of the questions in 2.) the GPL seems very murky and
ill defined in many ways. For that reason alone, it may be wise to choose
another license, regardless of who is right on the law.
4.) Is the specific conflict between Tomcat and jBoss based on the the BSD vs
the GPL, or is it more generally just an issue of different licenses being
mixed in one integrated package? Similarly, are there groups of licenses that
are generally compatible? For example, are the MPL and BSD generally
compatible, while the BSD and GPL are not? In other words, is it the GPL vs
all other licenses, or just specific ones? Would the BSD license be compatible
with the Artistic License (I ask because there seems to be some requirement for
redistributing changes to source code in section 3 of the AL, though it does
seem to allow alternatives to doing so)?
Anyway, clarification on these points would certainly help me not only on the
specific Tomcat/jBoss issue but others that may arise in the future.
-vince
