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GNU/GPL V3 license in bundles and Equinox [message #1033806]

Thu, 04 April 2013 13:04

Eclipse User

Hi all.

I am developing several bundles that can be executed in any OSGi container for stuff [1]. I would like to set GNU/GPL V3 to my source code (available here [2]). My question is: can I distribute my set of bundles plus the necessary Equinox bundles (in a .zip) as a complete application (that is, my bundles and the org.eclipse.equinox, ds, configuration manager... bundles) or is there any incompatibility with the licenses?

Apparently the Eclipse Licence and GPL/V3 does not allow to mix their code. However, in my case, no code is mixed (that is, I do not use org.eclipse.* packages in my code, for example). My bundles are independent of the OSGi environment (can also be executed in Apache Felix).

In [3] the FSF says that with Eclipse Plug-ins the licenses are incompatible, but we are talking now about OSGi bundles, where code is not mixed (Equinox includes bundles with Apache License, for example).

So, can I distribute a .zip with my bundles (GPLV3) together with a set of Equinox bundles?

Thanks!

[1] http://www.osgiliath.org
[2] http://osgiliath.svn.sourceforge.net/
[3] http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/using-the-gpl-for-eclipse-plug-ins

Re: GNU/GPL V3 license in bundles and Equinox [message #1033877 is a reply to message #1033806]

Thu, 04 April 2013 14:52

Eclipse User

I think you need to consult a lawyer. Not a bunch of developers...

Re: GNU/GPL V3 license in bundles and Equinox [message #1034321 is a reply to message #1033877]

Fri, 05 April 2013 05:43

Eclipse User

Well, I thought all the developers of this forum have to deal with the Eclipse License if they want to distribute their projects, but thanks for your response...

Re: GNU/GPL V3 license in bundles and Equinox [message #1034352 is a reply to message #1033806]

Fri, 05 April 2013 06:32

Eclipse User

From an Eclipse/EPL POV, You can write and share your bundles in any
license you'd like. However you're not allowed the change license of the
other bundle.
So you need to make it clear in the global license of your software that
you have some EPL bundles, and you'll need to tweak the GPL and set up a
license exception to allow usage of EPL code from you GPL
You can read more here:
http://mmilinkov.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/epl-gpl-commentary/

HTH
--
Mickael Istria
JBoss, by Red Hat
My blog: http://mickaelistria.wordpress.com
My Tweets: http://twitter.com/mickaelistria

Re: GNU/GPL V3 license in bundles and Equinox [message #1036456 is a reply to message #1034352]

Mon, 08 April 2013 08:08

Eclipse User

After reading your resource I am thinking in migrate to a dual-license of EPL-LGPL, as in logback (http://logback.qos.ch/license.html ).

Thank you, Michael!

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