apache2 and gpl2+
Hi,
I'm trying to package vcmi [1], a reimplementation of the Heroes of Might and
Magic 3 engine [2]. I'm hitting a legal roadblock now because vcmi embeds an
old version of fuzzylite [3] which is licensed under Apache2. Vcmi itself is
licensed under GPL2+. I was made aware that the GPL2 and Apache2 are
incompatible (thread starts here [4]). I'm now looking for a solution and would
like you for advice about license compatibility.
As it is pointed out here [5] and here [6], GPL2 is incompatible with Apache2
but GPL3 projects can contain Apache2 licensed code. Since vcmi is licensed
GPL2+, could the Debian package upgrade the license to GPL3+ and thus turn it
into a GPL3 project with Apache2 code which should be compatible? Sorry if this
is stupid, it's just a naive idea.
Fuzzylite upstream relicensed from Apache2 to LGPL3 with version 5.0 of
fuzzylite. Unfortunately, vcmi uses a very old version of fuzzylite with their
own set of patches on top, so upgrading to 5.0 would take quite some effort.
So instead we asked the fuzzylite upstream if they would consider relicensing
the older fuzzylite to LGPL3 as well but got no response.
The last possible solution I see would be to make the embedded fuzzylite
version of vcmi into a shared library that vcmi can then link against. If it is
a shared library and not statically compiled into vcmi, does it make a
difference in terms of license compatibility? Or is even linking of apache2
code from gpl2+ code forbidden?
Thank you!
cheers, josch
[1] http://mentors.debian.net/package/vcmi
[2] http://forum.vcmi.eu/portal.php
[3] http://www.fuzzylite.com/cpp/
[4] http://lists.debian.org/CAP+dXJfRvUN2xTuNX1kHhJugESHi_pB1z_UwmxDi2msyc_+1Kw@mail.gmail.com
[5] http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.en.html#apache2
[6] http://www.apache.org/licenses/GPL-compatibility.html
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