Anoop kumar V wrote:
> But again you are not redistributing the software that you are
> creating right.
I don't know---am I? "Redistributing" here is part of the legal language
of the license, and the license doesn't provide an explicit definition.
> I mean you are not forking the SVNKit code base and marketing it as a
> better svnkit or something
What you describe is usually called "creating a derivative work", which
is usually completely separate from simple redistribution. Whether I am
forking the SVNKit code base is beside the point---the distinction
between derivative works and redistribution is at least pretty well
settled, I believe; their license covers all "redistribution", whatever
that may be, but it definitely covers a lot more than creating a
derivative work.
> certainly making api calls to integrate svnkit into your application
> cannot be called redistribution,
I am not an attorney and this is not legal advice, but I believe the
point you are trying to make here is 100% incorrect. According to the
SVNKit license, if you redistribute SVNKit, you must make your
application open-source even if it only makes API calls to SVNKit. That
much seems plain.
Your pondering whether an application makes SVNKit API calls does not
address what constitutes "redistribution "---rather, that addresses
whether your application "uses" SVNKit, and I think it's clear that if
it makes SVNKit API calls, it uses SVNKit.
> else "every" application that uses svnkit would have the same issue
> and that cannot be too good from a licensing point of view.
I think (my personal opinion) it's clear that if you give or sell
someone a copy of your application and your application makes API calls
to SVNKit, you have to make the application open source. There doesn't
seem to be any question about that. You may like it or not, but that's
what the license says.
The only open question here is whether deploying a web application that
uses SVNKit (and making API calls is definitely "use") constitutes
redistribution of SVNKit under the SVNKit license.
Garret
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Received on Mon Dec 31 22:00:44 2007