[opencms-dev] Important: OpenCms changes to LGPL

[Stephan Hartmann]

Hi,

i am wondering what happens to modules that have been developed for opencms 
and not have been distributed under the terms of the GPL. I. e. the modules 
framfab has developed for www.welivit.de. Do they now have to be made 
available under the terms of the GPL???


Am Dienstag, 31. Juli 2001 12:29 schrieben Sie:
> Hi all,
>
> some important news concerning the upcoming release of OpenCms 4.4. We (the
> OpenCms Group) plan to re-issue the source code using the LGPL intead of
> the GPL. The main reason is that we always wanted it to be possible to
> develop OpenCms modules that are using another form of license.
>
> >From the current FAQ:
>
> ------------
> Does using the GPL mean that all additions to OpenCms must be Open Source
> as well?
>
> OpenCms has a build in module API (which is in fact a Java interface). The
> way we see it, all modules that simple use that API, and are not
> distributed together with OpenCms, are not a software based on OpenCms and
> therefore are not bound by the GPL license. If additions or changes to the
> core system are made, or modules are distributed together with OpenCms,
> these are covered by the GPL and thus must be published under the GPL. So
> companies can develop their additions to OpenCms as a module, distribute it
> separately, and choose any license they like. However, the OpenCms core
> system and all enhancements or additions to it will stay Open Source, as
> will be all modules that are distributed together with it.
> ------------
>
> Some comments on that point of view (the most important coming from Richard
> Stallman, founder of the FSF) have pointed out that his is not possible
> with the GPL. All Modules must be GPL, too. Therfore, from release 4.4.
> onwards, we will to re-issue the source code of the OpenCms core as LGPL.
> The LGPL allows the coexistance of the "library" (in our case the OpenCms
> core system) with components using another form of license. That's the only
> way we think we can meet our original intention.
>
> Re-issuing will not take the existing GPL code away (that's not possible
> because of the GPL). That means the currently relased sources will be
> always available as GPL. However, there will be a another version of the
> sources that will be LGPL.
>
> Re-issuing of course is tricky since it requires all authors that have
> contributed to the current source tree to allow us to re-issue their work
> as LGPL. I am in direct contact with the major sponsors of OpenCms and they
> seem to be willing to give their permission. If anyone of you has
> contributed source code, please let me know until the end of the week if it
> is ok to re-issue it using the LGPL or not.
>
> Of course, I am also interested in your opinions regarding the shift to
> LGPL in general.
>
> Best Regards,
> Alex
>
> OpenCms Group