Cliff Schmidt wrote:
On Jul 10, 2006, at 4:34 PM, Cliff Schmidt wrote:
I give you the long answer for two reasons: a) to give you an
understanding for the ideas behind all those rules, and b) to make
sure I'm not misleading anyone into thinking that distributing an
LGPL library within an Apache product would cause us to all go to FSF
jail (or worse, JBoss jail!). The reason we don't distribute LGPL
jars in our products is because our users have come to associate the
Apache brand with (among other things) commercially- friendly
software, and the LGPL places restrictions on how they can license
software that links to the library, which most would consider not as
friendly as they would like.
Actually, there was another reason I gave the long answer: I'm always
looking for feedback from people on this policy. When it's simply a
matter of the legality of a particular action, I can usually make that
decision easily enough on my own (and with the help of our generous pro
bono lawyers); but when it's an issue of figuring out the right policy
for Apache, I really want as much feedback as possible.
I hate to think that this policy would risk dividing a development
community unless absolutely necessary. So, if any of you have thoughts
on the utility/importance of drawing lines to ensure that the Apache
brand has some well-defined licensing definition (such as I've tried to
do with this policy to create something that is "commercially
friendly"), please let me know. I'm don't want to hijack the
short-term issue, but I want everyone to know the big picture and that
I'm always open to hearing potentially better ideas.
Since it is I who has the "problem" with the LGPL libraries I ought to
state my opinion.
I fully understand the intent of this policy.
I fully support the intent of this policy.
I do not believe that our proposed solution will divide the community
since we will only be providing the binary download from a third party
distribution site.
Cliff, thanks for all your efforts in formulating a clear policy for us
to follow. It makes life much easier.
Ross
