RE: [aspectj-users] AspectJ run-time licensing

Andy et al.

I’d very much appreciate if the project folks could get the Eclipse IP team to lend some guidance in clarifying the license exception terms for aspectjrt.jar. We need a clear understanding of what terms from the EPL apply (or not) for the inclusion and redistribution of aspectjrt.jar in our commerical product.

What can we do to initiate a response on this, and in what timeframe could we expect a clarification?

Our developers are anxious to move forward, but we need to address this legal question before they are given the go-ahead.

Regards,

Mike

SpringSource dm Server has a similar situation, so you may be interested in the following:

http://www.springsource.com//products/dmserver/licensingfaq

-Ramnivas

On Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 12:43 PM, Wim Deblauwe <wim.deblauwe@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

There is some information on the EPL on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse_Public_License

What i find most striking is that it is not compatible with the GPL, so as I understand it, you cannot build a GPL application or library using aspectJ. Can somebody confirm this?

regards,

Wim

2009/10/5 Andy Clement <andrew.clement@xxxxxxxxx>

Hi Mike,

Unfortunately - I'm not a lawyer either and basically agree with
Ramnivas. But I would say the AspectJ FAQ is very overdue an update
(and wasn't written by a lawyer originally) - it still references the
CPL when we moved to EPL many releases ago. However, I'd say there is
no intention to trick anyone here, and my interpretation is simply
that you need to ship aspectjrt.jar as-is (without removing any of
it). We could maybe ask the Eclipse IP team for some guidance, but
I've not had to do that before and aspectjrt.jar has been shipped with
many products in the past (not just open source projects).

Andy

2009/10/2 McSherry, Mike <mcsherry@xxxxxxxxxxxx>:

> Greetings,
>
> I'm interested in the license exception noted in the FAQ, which Jacob Bower
> also referenced. If distributing only 'aspectjrt.jar' as part of my
> product, I read it as only the warranty disclaimers being applicable.
> Referring to the EPL license text, that would be solely the terms noted in
> "Section 5: NO WARRANTY"?
>
> Is that indeed the extent of the terms which are applicable to distributing
> ‘aspectjrt.jar’?
>
> I'd greatly appreciate clarification on this from the project leads, since
> I'm not a lawyer either, but I have to work with them.
>
> --Mike
>
> Jacob Bower wrote:
>
> I had got the impression that distribution generally wasn't going to be an
> issue.
>
> However, I'm trying to understand what my obligations are in terms of for
> example making the end user view the EPL?
>
> - Jacob
>
> 2009/7/13 Ramnivas Laddad <ramnivas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> <mailto:ramnivas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
>
>     I am not a lawyer, but I do not think there are any restrictions
>
>     on redistributing aspectjrt.jar (or any of the the AspectJ jars).
>
>     For example, aspectjrt.jar is distributed with many SpringSource
>
>     products (open source as well as commercial).
>
>     -Ramnivas
>
>     On Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 1:59 PM, Jacob Bower <jacob@xxxxxxxxxxx
>
>     <mailto:jacob@xxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>
>         Hi,
>
>         I'm developing a Java library which will be distributed in jar
>
>         form. In developing this library I have used AspectJ 1.6.5 and
>
>         the resulting binary will include code woven in by the ajc
>
>         compiler. To distribute this library I will need to distribute
>
>         the AspectJ run-time. Users of the library will not need to
>
>         use ajc to compile their code as all relevant joinpoints are
>
>         internal to the library.
>
>         In this case, what are the restrictions on distributing the
>
>         AspectJ run-time. Can I include the aspectj.jar (or its
>
>         conents) in my own jar with no notices?
>
>         I've consulted the AspectJ FAQ on this matter, but I am
>
>         unclear on how I'm supposed to preserve the warranty
>
>         disclaimers in the license.
>
>         Thanks,
>
>         Jacob
>