Java, GPL and CDDL

On 13/11/2007, Ben Finney <bignose+hates-spam@benfinney.id.au> wrote:
> Yves Combe <yves.DeleteThis@ycombe.net> writes:
>
> > I am wondering if Java GPLed application can link with CDDL classes?
> > Case looks like the cdrecord question i saw in the archive.
>
> To understand whether there's a license conflict, there needs to be an
> understanding of whether copyright is invoked by "linking". In many
> jurisdictions, this boils down to whether the action of distributing a
> work, Foo, that "links to" work Bar, is thus distributing a derivative
> work of Bar.

ISTM the key issue is whether the CDDL classes would constitute part
of the "Corresponding Source" (in GPL v3 language) of the Java
application, rather than a dynamic vs static linking issue.

That in turn hinges on whether the CDDL classes would be regarded as
forming part of the "System Libraries" for the work. The questions to
ask are then:

a. Are the CDDL libraries "included in the normal form of packaging
a Major Component, but ... not part of that Major Component"? (Would
the "Major Component" here be the JDK?)

b. If so, do these serve "only to enable use of the work with that
Major Component, or to implement a Standard Interface for which an
implementation is available to the public in source code form"?

If the answer to both those questions is "yes" then the CDDL-licensed
classes are not required to be distributed as part of the
"Corresponding Source" for the GPLed code.

If, however, the answer to either (or both) of those questions is "no"
then the classes will form part of the Corresponding Source of the
application, and will need to be distributed under the GPL.

(It's worth noting that the GPL v3 appears to be more helpful here
than GPL v2, which defines the "major components" exception more
narrowly.)

> > CarMetal uses colorchooser https://colorchooser.dev.java.net/ wich is
> > CDDL licensed.
> > Is that ok for dfsg ?

As mentioned above, I think what needs to be done is to ask those two
questions about whether colorchooser forms part of the "System
Libraries" for CarMetal. If colorchooser is not normally included in
the Sun JDK(?) - and the fact it is made available for separate
download suggests to me it isn't - then I'd say there is a licensing
problem here.

This isn't a DFSG problem so much as a GPL/CDDL incompatibility issue
more generally. If colorchooser is <strike>distributed</strike>
"conveyed" under the GPL then this will breach the CDDL. If
colorchooser is not included with the Corresponding Source of CarMetal
then this will breach the GPL.

If I've wildly missed the point somewhere along the line - I'm still
new here - then I'm sure someone will point this out, so I'd wait to
see if anyone leaps in now!

John

(TINLA)


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