[Board] [Geotools-devel] About Asking permission for re-licensing from LGPL to Apache

[Jody Garnett]

> I get the feeling that there are bigger implications than just a license 
> change which have not been publicly verbalised, and I think it would 
> help to get these out in the open.
> * In particular, it seems that core to this discussion is the 
> relationship between OSGeo and LocationTech, along with business 
> implications associated with that.
> 
> 

Not really, Martin approached LocationTech, just as he did the Apache Foundation in search of a home to foster community.

I also note that GeoToolkit has an outstanding request for incubation with the OSGeo Foundation, at the time it was held up due to lack of a steering committee (as we tend to focus on open development around here). The GeoToolkit website indicates the project is stilling working out a framework to operate under.
> * A board decision related to geotools will likely have implications on similar discussions likely to happen for other OSGeo projects.

Possibly, the goal is to foster development after all.

Normally the choice of license indicates how a team intends their code base to be used. In broad strokes the GeoTools community has always tried be a "business friendly" library, while expecting any bug fixes to be made available. The LGPL license is a good fit for these goals, as it asks that derivative works make their changes available to users of derived projects.  The definition of "business friendly" has changed in recent years due to increasingly strange patent litigation. Arguments at the Apache and FSF illustrate this friction, as such I would prefer if the OSGeo Foundation is kept out of the line of fire on these issues as I do not find them productive (or spatial).

As for the email discussion cited, Martin has asked us to look into the request and it was placed on our meeting agenda.

The GeoTools PMC is still in the fact checking mode and has not figured out what (if anything) is possible.

The usual course of action here would be to explore what is possible, create a geotools proposal, revise it through public discussion, and ask the PMC to vote on it. For interesting topics such as this proposals are often rejected and revised as the details worked out.

Finally the the GeoTools development process is open, and anyone can create a GeoTools proposal (for example a proposal to release a subset of GeoTools 2.5.x under and Apache or BSD license).

Jody
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