[Psc] questions for Ext licensing folks

[Tim Schaub]

Hey-

So we have some outstanding questions regarding licensing.  Instead of 
continuing to speculate, I think it would be best to ask the Ext 
licensing folks directly.  Below is a draft.  I don't have a direct 
contact - if someone else does, please let me know.

Please send feedback.  If I don't send this out today, my next day in 
the office is May 11 and I will send it out then (if nobody else has).

After writing the draft below and reading more, I am pretty convinced 
that the answer to 1 is "no" and the answer to 2 is "yes."  Eric, you 
had particular concerns about the application exception.  Please rework 
the question if I have not captured your concern.  At this point, I'm 
most concern about getting permission to use the name GeoExt.  I'd be 
happy to remove either of the other questions if others think the 
answers are clear.

Thanks,
Tim


Draft of message to Ext licensing folks
---------------------------------------

Hello-

I am writing on behalf of a community of developers working on a project 
that extends ExtJS (2.x) classes with mapping functionality from the 
OpenLayers library.  We have a number of questions related to licensing 
(and intellectual property) that we are hoping to get answers on.

First, we have been calling our project GeoExt, and wanted to make sure 
the name was appropriate for us to use.  Below is a mockup of our issue 
tracker with a logo at the head.

http://img.skitch.com/20090409-jksimuqt2axkrciw386bx2n3f4.png.

Please let us know if the name and look of the logo are acceptable for 
us to use.

Our library [1] extends Ext components and data utilities with mapping 
functionality from OpenLayers [2].  Our plan has been to distribute 
GeoExt under a BSD license and to include OpenLayers (with a BSDish 
license) in our releases.  We will provide instructions with our 
releases on obtaining Ext from extjs.com.  Our understanding is that we 
meet the terms of the Open Source License Exception for Development [3].

We have received some questions from interested application developers 
regarding licensing of applications built with GeoExt and Ext.  I'll 
enumerate them below.  Thanks for any answers you are able to provide.


1) If an application includes a script that is a minimized build of the 
ExtJS library that is not produced by the tools hosted here 
http://extjs.com/products/extjs/build/ (e.g. compressed from the source 
with YUICompressor), this looks to be considered "conveying non-source 
forms" under GPL v3.  In this case, is the application provider 
responsible for doing more than including a reference to the license and 
instructions on getting the source from extjs.com?


2) A typical application would include Ext and application code that 
calls Ext methods.  The Open Source License Exception for Applications 
[4] suggests that code that is independent of the library may be 
distributed under one of the listed licenses (point 2.a and the 
paragraph preceding it).  Is application code that relies on Ext (calls 
methods and accesses properties) considered independent and can this 
code be distributed under one of the listed licenses (assuming other 
terms are met)?


[1] http://svn.geoext.org/core/trunk/geoext/lib/
[2] http://openlayers.org/
[3] http://extjs.com/products/ux-exception.php
[4] http://extjs.com/products/floss-exception.php


-- 
Tim Schaub
OpenGeo - http://opengeo.org
Expert service straight from the developers.