On Tue, Mar 05, 2013 at 02:42:02PM -0600, Yichi Lu wrote: > Does anyone know that whether it is OK, from licensing point of view, to > add a GPLv2 package into CloudStack? > My understanding is that Apache/CloudStack is under Apache v2 licensing, > which is incompatible to GPLv2. > The particular package (or Program) is under GPLv2 with FLOSS exceptions > (to alleviate the incompatibility), where Apachev2 is on that FLOSS license > list. I include exceptions here. Thanks.
So generally, it's a bad idea. We have solved this in 2 ways: 1) Not making it part of the default build (like VMware support). 2) Making it a "system dependency" which we rely on packaging to pull in. Generally not a good idea though... > > Yichi > > As a special exception to the terms and conditions of version 2.0 of the > GPL: > > 0. You are free to distribute a Derivative Work that is formed entirely from > the Program and one or more works (each, a "FLOSS Work") licensed under > one or more of the licenses listed below in section 1, as long as: > > a. You obey the GPL in all respects for the Program and the Derivative > Work, except for identifiable sections of the Derivative Work which > are not derived from the Program, and which can reasonably be > considered independent and separate works in themselves, > > b. all identifiable sections of the Derivative Work which are not > derived from the Program, and which can reasonably be considered > independent and separate works in themselves, > > (i) are distributed subject to one of the FLOSS licenses listed > below, and > > (ii) the object code or executable form of those sections are > accompanied by the complete corresponding machine-readable > source code for those sections on the same medium and under the > same FLOSS license as the corresponding object code or > executable forms of those sections, and > > c. any works which are aggregated with the Program or with a Derivative > Work on a volume of a storage or distribution medium in accordance > with the GPL, can reasonably be considered independent and separate > works in themselves which are not derivatives of either the Program, > a Derivative Work or a FLOSS Work.
