It depends how you integrate it - you can't put LGPL or GPL stuff into distributions from Apache - and you can't really do a release that is incomplete without it (e.g. "To make X work, download the GPL library Y and put it into lib")
Optional dependencies (e.g. plugins) should however be fine to be externally managed - but you have to make it very clear that they are not affiliated with Apache. For instance for Apache Taverna we had an in the pre-incubator code some optional plugins that have LGPL dependencies, so we simply put them at https://github.com/taverna-extras and link to it from http://taverna.incubator.apache.org/download/code/#taverna-extra as "independent community-submitted plugins". A common thing is mysql-client.jar which is GPL - so as long as your code is happy to work with other JDBC drivers (why wouldn't it?) you can just have instructions on how to download it and put it in lib/ for those that are happy to use mySQL - and have some other reasonable default otherwise (e.g. Apache Derby) On 4 March 2015 at 13:44, Julian Tenney <julian.ten...@nottingham.ac.uk> wrote: > Question: I know I've seen this discussed here before, and in any case, you > guys are the best source for an answer: > > Can we have GPL code in a repository as long as that is not distributed with > the product in a 'official' release? > > Thanks a lot, > > Julian > > > > > This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee > and may contain confidential information. If you have received this > message in error, please send it back to me, and immediately delete it. > > Please do not use, copy or disclose the information contained in this > message or in any attachment. Any views or opinions expressed by the > author of this email do not necessarily reflect the views of the > University of Nottingham. > > This message has been checked for viruses but the contents of an > attachment may still contain software viruses which could damage your > computer system, you are advised to perform your own checks. Email > communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored as > permitted by UK legislation. > -- Stian Soiland-Reyes Apache Taverna (incubating) http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9842-9718 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org
