At 10:03 1/11/00 +0100, you wrote:
>> So you need to define such an interface and make sure it is widely
>> implementable. Ie Need a mail server ? then it implements interface. Need a
>> directory server --> implement the interface.
>
>Here we need Tomcat, but do we really need a glue
>interface and glue code to load it?
yep and the interface needs to be under a GPL and APL compatable license
and in a different archive as does the glue code itself.
>Think of a GPLed java program using JDBC. The JDBC
>interface is "platform code" that calls the JDBC
>implementation. But to get the vendor-specific JDBC
>implementation loaded in the VM, a call similar to
>Class.forName(myConf.getJDBCImplName()) is used.
>You don't think that loading the JDBC implementation
>this way will create a conflict between the GPL and
>the JDBC implementation license, do you ?
nope but they have the two things that are required. A solid interface that
any DB provider can use to provide DB connection. Also The JDBC interface
is under a license that both APL and GPL can work with.
>> right but under GNU interpretation this does not hold. Only stuff that are
>> downloaded in one package (ie j2ee, j2se, j2me, personaljava etc) is
>> considered to be covered by clause 3. The extra extentions (javax.* not
>> included in above) is not covered by clause 3.
>
>Seems like we still have a few differences here.
>
>You think that javax.* is not considered "platform code",
>while I think it is. We should be able to find out who
>are right on this issue.
well using the term "platform" is perhaps misleading. What is really
important is what is covered by clause 3 of GPL. It just happens that suns
definition of a platform coincides with the requirements set forth in
clause 3.
Now you can redefine platform however you want but that means nothing if it
is not coincident with GPL requirements. The javax.* that are standard
extentions do not fall in realm of what GPL allowed to link with thus any
defintion of platform that includes them is not coincident with GPL \clause
3's requirements. Therefore standard extentions => non-GPL compliant.
Cheers,
Pete
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