Dear all,
I've read through the GPL license, and I'm not a legal expert but from
what I can see paragraph 2b is a killer. For example, I cannot see how
XO3 can redistribute jBoss with Tomcat and reasonably call it "mere
aggregation" (i.e. our JMX integration is not "mere aggregation", it is
much more than that), thus OpenJoda needs to "be licensed as a whole at
no charge to all third parties under the terms of this License." Which
breaks Tomcat's license, so it's out of the question.
After listening to Marc's and all others arguments back and forth I have
the following thoughts (right or wrong, here they are):
* GPL paragraph 2b is a killer, and I cannot see how we can
bundle/integrate Tomcat without having to apply GPL to the whole
shebang. Sorry Marc, I just don't see it. The clause does not say "mere
aggregation in a Program" (which is what we do). It says "mere
aggregation of another work not based on the Program with the Program
(or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of a storage or
distribution medium", which is a completely different thing, closer to
Oles reference to RedHat CD's (BTW, yes I know I'm violating GPL
copyright by quoting it. So sue me)
* *Regardless* of whether we can do this or not, we can't "win". I don't
really care how *we* interpret GPL, and from what it seems our
interpretation is the loosest ever. It will do two things:
1) GPL hardcores will, pretty much, hate jBoss. Slashdot, here we come..
2) "Suits" will stay away from jBoss ANYWAY, because it uses GPL. "So,
we can use it? Nah, my left foot says no, so that's it. I'm going with
OpenEJB. BSD gives me a fuzzy feeling". I don't care if it's rational or
not; there you have it.
To me the solution seems clear. IMHO jBoss is not a "baby" anymore. We
do not have anything to gain by doing a crusade with GPL. We may not be
exactly where we want just yet (i.e. Project Game Over is not done), but
we sure are "enough" along the way to getting there. I may be wrong, but
that's my gut feeling anyway :-)
So, for it to grow to the heights we want it if changing the license to
APL or MPL or BSD, or whatever makes sense (just not GPL), is what it
takes, then that's the way to go. IMHO of course.
regards,
Rickard
ps. Just to make it super-clear: These are the opinions of Rickard
Öberg, and are not necessarily representative of those of his employer.
--
Rickard Öberg
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.telkel.com
http://www.jboss.org
http://www.dreambean.com
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