licensing issue

[Rick Hillegas <Ri...@Sun.COM>]

There's a piece of code floating around on the internet as part of the 
Lucene project. It isn't formally checked into Lucene but the author 
says, via email, that he freely gave it away. Does anyone have an 
opinion about the legal status of this code? Can it be incorporated into 
an apache open source effort?

Thanks,
-Rick

Re: licensing issue

[Francois Orsini <fr...@gmail.com>]

Do you have the name of this piece of code by any chance? ;) if the author
gave it away, shouldn't the copyright notice of Lucene's licensing statement
be in the source files of that piece as well? (assuming Lucene has such a
thing in the source files or not?) - just wondering...

Re: licensing issue

[Daniel John Debrunner <dj...@debrunners.com>]

Rick Hillegas wrote:

> Hi Jean and Francois,
> 
> Thanks for your responses. Francois, the name of the class is
> SQLDirectory; I have a copy of this code and it doesn't contain a
> copyright notice.

How is it "floating around the internet"? If it's in an ASF mailing list
then I think it's ok.

Dan.

Re: licensing issue

["Jean T. Anderson" <jt...@bristowhill.com>]

Rick Hillegas wrote:
> Hi Jean and Francois,
> 
> Thanks for your responses. Francois, the name of the class is 
> SQLDirectory; I have a copy of this code and it doesn't contain a 
> copyright notice.
> 
> Jean, thanks for your suggestion. I don't know why the code isn't 
> checked into the Lucene sandbox; I think the code is a little raw; maybe 
> the sandbox didn't exist when this class first appeared. I will follow 
> up with legal-discuss.

I'd suggest first nailing down the Lucene story.

If it turns out Lucene doesn't want to check that file in for whatever 
reason and derby-dev decides it wants to add it to Derby's repo, we 
could then pursue the legal fine points. According to 
http://www.apache.org/foundation/mailinglists.html, legal-discuss is 
only open to committers, though the mail archives are available to all. 
And from what I gather from other list traffic, they'd like us to 
resolve any questions first on our PMC, if possible.

  -jean

Re: licensing issue

[Rick Hillegas <Ri...@Sun.COM>]

Hi Jean and Francois,

Thanks for your responses. Francois, the name of the class is 
SQLDirectory; I have a copy of this code and it doesn't contain a 
copyright notice.

Jean, thanks for your suggestion. I don't know why the code isn't 
checked into the Lucene sandbox; I think the code is a little raw; maybe 
the sandbox didn't exist when this class first appeared. I will follow 
up with legal-discuss.

Regards,
-Rick

Jean T. Anderson wrote:

> Rick Hillegas wrote:
>
>> There's a piece of code floating around on the internet as part of 
>> the Lucene project. It isn't formally checked into Lucene but the 
>> author says, via email, that he freely gave it away. Does anyone have 
>> an opinion about the legal status of this code? Can it be 
>> incorporated into an apache open source effort?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> -Rick
>
>
> From Derby incubator days .... if the author of that file is willing 
> to license that particular file to the ASF under the Apache License, 
> there's no problem. All the author needs to do is post a message to 
> that effect to the developer list.
>
> However, "freely gave it away" probably isn't sufficient. It needs to 
> be contributed under the Apache license.
>
> but i.am.not.a.lawyer  :-) We have legal-discuss@apache.org for asking 
> hard questions as needed.
>
> One question: why isn't Lucene committing it to their project repo? Is 
> there some larger story?
>
>  -jean

Re: licensing issue

["Jean T. Anderson" <jt...@bristowhill.com>]

Rick Hillegas wrote:
> Alas, I am estopped forthwith. It turns out that only committers and 
> their designated legal amanuenses may petition legal-discuss@apache.org.
> 
> Jean, as a committer, could you approach this mailing list?
> 
> Thanks,
> -Rick

Would it be possible to first nail down the Lucene story? Why they 
haven't included it?  Technical issues? Legal issues?  :-)

  -jean


> 
> Jean T. Anderson wrote:
> 
>> Rick Hillegas wrote:
>>
>>> There's a piece of code floating around on the internet as part of 
>>> the Lucene project. It isn't formally checked into Lucene but the 
>>> author says, via email, that he freely gave it away. Does anyone have 
>>> an opinion about the legal status of this code? Can it be 
>>> incorporated into an apache open source effort?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> -Rick
>>
>>
>>
>> From Derby incubator days .... if the author of that file is willing 
>> to license that particular file to the ASF under the Apache License, 
>> there's no problem. All the author needs to do is post a message to 
>> that effect to the developer list.
>>
>> However, "freely gave it away" probably isn't sufficient. It needs to 
>> be contributed under the Apache license.
>>
>> but i.am.not.a.lawyer  :-) We have legal-discuss@apache.org for asking 
>> hard questions as needed.
>>
>> One question: why isn't Lucene committing it to their project repo? Is 
>> there some larger story?
>>
>>  -jean
> 
> 
> 

Re: licensing issue

[Rick Hillegas <Ri...@Sun.COM>]

Alas, I am estopped forthwith. It turns out that only committers and 
their designated legal amanuenses may petition legal-discuss@apache.org.

Jean, as a committer, could you approach this mailing list?

Thanks,
-Rick

Jean T. Anderson wrote:

> Rick Hillegas wrote:
>
>> There's a piece of code floating around on the internet as part of 
>> the Lucene project. It isn't formally checked into Lucene but the 
>> author says, via email, that he freely gave it away. Does anyone have 
>> an opinion about the legal status of this code? Can it be 
>> incorporated into an apache open source effort?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> -Rick
>
>
> From Derby incubator days .... if the author of that file is willing 
> to license that particular file to the ASF under the Apache License, 
> there's no problem. All the author needs to do is post a message to 
> that effect to the developer list.
>
> However, "freely gave it away" probably isn't sufficient. It needs to 
> be contributed under the Apache license.
>
> but i.am.not.a.lawyer  :-) We have legal-discuss@apache.org for asking 
> hard questions as needed.
>
> One question: why isn't Lucene committing it to their project repo? Is 
> there some larger story?
>
>  -jean

Re: licensing issue

["Jean T. Anderson" <jt...@bristowhill.com>]

Rick Hillegas wrote:
> There's a piece of code floating around on the internet as part of the 
> Lucene project. It isn't formally checked into Lucene but the author 
> says, via email, that he freely gave it away. Does anyone have an 
> opinion about the legal status of this code? Can it be incorporated into 
> an apache open source effort?
> 
> Thanks,
> -Rick

 From Derby incubator days .... if the author of that file is willing to 
license that particular file to the ASF under the Apache License, 
there's no problem. All the author needs to do is post a message to that 
effect to the developer list.

However, "freely gave it away" probably isn't sufficient. It needs to be 
contributed under the Apache license.

but i.am.not.a.lawyer  :-) We have legal-discuss@apache.org for asking 
hard questions as needed.

One question: why isn't Lucene committing it to their project repo? Is 
there some larger story?

  -jean