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Bug#353353: Licensing problems with appWeb



Hello.

I'm considering packaging appWeb for Debian, but have found a few
problems with appWeb's licensing.  To be more specific, not all parts
of it are licensed under a GPL-compatible license, even though most of
appWeb is under GPL.

Portions of url.cpp are under Apache's license.  There are a few
different versions of that license, and it doesn't specify which one,
but none are GPL compatible.

The PHP modules in http/modules are licensed under PHP license, which
is not GPL compatible.  Also, the openssl module will link to the
openssl library, which isn't GPL compatible, either.  I'm not certain
if using dlopen is enough to make openssl a separate work.

I could avoid any GPL compatibility issues with the modules by just
not compiling in the offending modules.  But it would be possible to
allow the use of non-GPL-compatible code by amending the license with
an exception, explicitly allowing mixing it with the offending
licenses.  I've explained the situation before at
http://bugs.debian.org/361010

But I'm not quite sure if changing the license is an option here,
seeing that parts of appWeb are under GoAhead Software Inc's
copyright.

Unfortunately, I can't work as easily around url.cpp's apache license
as with the modules.  Otherwise I would just proceed with the
technical side of packaging appWeb for Debian already.

It's ultimately up to you what you would do with these issues.
Obviously my opinion in this should not be taken as a legal advice,
but I don't think that appWeb would be distributable in Debian as it
is now.  But being in the clear with regard to licensing would be your
benefit, too.

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