Damn, I need to Wiki this :) Basically, LGPL is a license written for the C programming language. While we all agree that its intent is to allow people to freely use the library, its wording means that the actual application to a language other than C is up for debate. A lot of this comes down to whether the term 'linking' means 'import' in Java or not. Early vs Late linking languages etc.
Anyways, legal advice given to the ASF is not to be tied to an LGPL license as the LGPL is feasibly as viral as GPL. This isn't just some not-invented-here view the ASF have. Lawrence Rosen's latest book on open-source licensing seems to repeat the view. This means we cannot have LGPL'd jars in the CVS repository, that we cannot modify previously LGPL'd code and that we cannot import LGPL'd code in our import statements. The same applies for GPL (to answer Joe's question that yes, GPL is worse). I'm hoping that as the months go by next year we'll be able to import LGPL'd code in our code. GPL will still be out of the question, as would LGPL in CVS or modifying LGPL; but use of JFreeCharts, Hibernate and other libraries would be possible. So, yep. Dumbster's license seems to be a problem. One path is to explain this to the author and ask if they can dual-license it under something like BSD or ASL 2.0. Hen On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 23:04:11 +0100, Mark Lowe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > A little bit of a digression but I'm reading through the LGPL blurb.. > > Can you give a bit more detail on this problem? Just as a matter or curiosity. > > Mark > > On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 21:00:16 +0000, robert burrell donkin > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On 15 Nov 2004, at 11:10, Eric Pugh wrote: > > > > <snip> > > > > > (2) DEENDENCIES > > > > > > > > The Email component is dependent upon the following external > > > components for development and use: > > > > <snip> > > > > > * Dumbster Fake SMTP (Version 1.0.3 or later) - for unit tests > > > only, not > > > required for deployment > > > > i hate to do this to what is a good proposal but... > > > > isn't dumbster LGPL'd...? > > > > BaseEmailTestCase imports LGPL'd code and IIRC that's still > > problematic. (FSF refuse to clarify the situation with regard to java.) > > > > - robert > > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
