[Psc] questions for Ext licensing folks

[Bart van den Eijnden (OSGIS)]

Hey Tim,

I think this summarizes the situation/questions correctly.

Best regards,
Bart

Tim Schaub wrote:
> 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
>
>
>   


-- 
Bart van den Eijnden
OSGIS, Open Source GIS
bartvde at osgis.nl
http://www.osgis.nl