Combining Apache with GPL in one package - Re: libxdoclet-java_1.2.3-2_i386.changes REJECTED
Hi Mike (or anybody else who's got time to explain this to me)!
[We are talking about the Java OSS project xdoclet which comes with a
core library licensed under GPLv2 but includes a plugin that extends
xdoclet's capabilities to support Sun's JDO using one of Sun's Apache
2.0-licensed DTDs.]
Mike O'Connor writes:
this license [...] presents a
problem in that the Apache 2.0 license is not compatible with the
GPLv2 which much of the software is licensed under.
Mike (or anybody): Is this even true when I do not link or derive of the
concerned files?
I researched this in the Debian policy and DFSG documents as well as in
debian-legal. But I still couldn't come up with a clear answer for this.
From what I read, I understood that I cannot re-license something that
has been Apache 2.0 as GPLv2 or vice versa. I also cannot link an Apache
2.0 file with a GPLv2 file as this would effectively mean to extend
GPLv2 to the Apache files. I also understood, that it is not a problem
to "aggregate" files of different licenses as long as each of them is
DFSG compliant.
But what does "linking" mean in the context of Java, especially when the
file concerned is a DTD and not a .java file?
In my layman terms I'd say that packaging an Apache DTD with GPLed
compiled Java code is a mere aggregation. There are other OSS packages
that combine GPL & Apache software. One I know of is the Alfresco
Community Edition (GPLv2) that is being re-distributed together with
Spring (Apache 2.0).
I am not a lawyer, so I probably miss out some important detail.
Here are my questions:
- Can I or can I not package the above files together (given the
additional information I provided)?
- What are my options to fix the problem if I cannot package the files
together?
Florian
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