On 5/30/06, Nedjo Rogers <nedjo@islandnet.com> wrote:
> Since the details and reason for this policy seem worthy of capturing for
> posterity, I've drafted a brief handbook page,
> http://drupal.org/node/66113.
A small addendum. The LGPL permits the relicensing of any single copy of an
LGPL library from LGPL to GPL (article 3 of the LGPL,
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html
). In three cases in the Javascript
Tools package (jscalendar, wforms, columns) I have relicensed LGPL libraries
to GPL and included them in CVS. Other modules using LGPL code, e.g.,
TinyMCE, presumably could choose to do the same. This practice is in full
compliance with the GPL. I assume it's also in full compliance with Drupal
CVS policies, as the software in CVS has only one license, the GPL.
If there are any issues with this approach, please speak up! Otherwise, I'll
add a note on this to the Handbook page.
There is an issue here, although it is in part up to the module maintainer. You *could* check third-party libraries with compatible licenses into CVS, but it's discouraged: the latest releases, bugfixes, security updates, and so on will always be maintained by the source distributor/maintainer of the library/package/whatever.
It's "convenient" to have it one package, but it's more work for the maintainer to keep up with the upstream packages, and then be maintaining non-Drupal code in Drupal CVS.
It's especially discouraged if the libraries are very large....this last factor is no longer as big an issue now that we have solid hosting/support.
--
Boris Mann
Vancouver 778-896-2747
San Francisco 415-367-3595
Skype borismann
http://www.bryght.com