Hi all,
Apache PDFBox currently uses the JBig2 ImageIO-Plugin at https://github.com/levigo/jbig2-imageio as an optional component and recommends the use of it at https://pdfbox.apache.org/2.0/dependencies.html. I am writing this as a representative of the ISV levigo, the owner and publisher of this component. Besides being an open source component we use the component on our own software suite. Over the years we have invested significant time into it and have been maintaining it for many years so that I would consider its code-base reasonably mature and stable. However, we continue to address any bugs reported to us and have accepted several community-provided fixes. The plugin in question is currently licensed under the GNU General Public License V3 with other licensing options available, including commercial licensing. Having PDFBox under the ASL and the plugin under a different license has long been a nuisance for PDFBox users which has deterred many users fron using it. On the other hand, many users have a strong need for it as our plugin is (IMHO) still the highest quality pure-Java open source decoder available. We would like to change this situation by licensing the plugin under the ASL. At the same time, however, we think that it would make sense to move the code base over to a new home that makes it independent of a single vendor. That's where the ASF and the PDFBox project comes into play :-) We are currently in the very early stages of evaluating such a transition. A few random thoughts: - All of those thoughts are subject to the PDFBox community being willing to do this and accepting the contribution, obviously. - One of the reasons for us to favor the ASF as a new home is that the ASF has strong provisions in place to ensure that a project can thrive without it being dependent on life-support by a single vendor. - We need to do proper IP vetting: while the vast majority has been done by levigo there is one other GitHub committer who has provided bug fixes and whom we need to talk to. - Package names and maven coordinates will have to be updated to reflect the transition - After a transition colleagues of mine would continue to contribute to the maintenance of the component. The necessary committer rights would need to be bestowed upon them. I myself have been an Apache committed for many years, albeit almost completely inactive. - It would make sense (and is required by the Apache rules) to have additional know-how about the component outside of levigo. I don't know whether there is enough interest in the PDFBox community to ensure this. So that's it for now, I guess. Please let me know what you think. Jörg Henne -- levigo solutions gmbh Business IT. Jörg Henne Bebelsbergstr. 31 71088 Holzgerlingen Germany Telefon (Zentrale): Telefax (Zentrale): E-Mail: +49 7031 4161-20 +49 7031 4161-21 j.he...@levigo.de<mailto:j.he...@levigo.de> Geschäftsführer: Jürgen Mästling, Jörg Henne Registergericht: Stuttgart HRB 245 178 USt-ID: DE216 017 084 <https://www.facebook.com/levigosystems> [cid:image5b9c5e.GIF@203e0afc.4294692c] <https://www.facebook.com/levigosolutions> [cid:image0822e9.GIF@ed4e83fb.4ab7eba1] <https://plus.google.com/+levigosolutionsgmbhHolzgerlingen> <https://plus.google.com/+levigosystemsgmbhHolzgerlingen> [cid:image6a4e57.GIF@e13fb82b.40bf3884] <https://www.xing.com/companies/levigosolutionsgmbh> <https://www.xing.com/companies/levigosystemsgmbh> [cid:imagee99deb.GIF@a2c123f6.4f908c0e] <http://www.levigo.de/> Die Unternehmen und Marken der levigo gruppe: levigo<http://tra.fo/levigo> | jadice<http://tra.fo/jadice> | openthinclient<http://tra.fo/otc> | h-pcn<http://tra.fo/hpcn>
