Permissible to rewrite in another programming language

[dn...@rockwellcollins.com]

After doing more research I don't think it's feasible to build the Xerces 
XML library on my target platform.  Would it be permissible under the 
Apache license to write my own XML parser, using Xerces as a model, in 
another programming language without releasing the source code?

Re: Permissible to rewrite in another programming language

[David Bertoni <db...@apache.org>]

dnewhous@rockwellcollins.com wrote:
> After doing more research I don't think it's feasible to build the Xerces 
> XML library on my target platform.  Would it be permissible under the 
> Apache license to write my own XML parser, using Xerces as a model, in 
> another programming language without releasing the source code?
I suspect this is a question you should be asking your company's lawyer, 
and not the members of the mailing list.  My reading of the license 
would allow it as long as comply with the "Redistribution" section of 
the license.

That said, rather than attempt to re-write Xerces-C in another language, 
which will be a non-trivial effort, you might consider using one of the 
many another open source XML parser implementations.

Dave

Re: Permissible to rewrite in another programming language

[Ben Griffin <be...@redsnapper.net>]

 From Wikipedia:

Like any free-software license, the Apache License allows the user of  
the software the freedom to use the software for any purpose, to  
distribute it, to modify it, and to distribute modified versions of  
the software.

The Apache License does not require modified versions of the software  
to be distributed using the same license nor even that it be  
distributed as free/open-source software. The Apache license only  
requires that a notice is kept informing recipients that Apache  
licensed code has been used. Thus, in contrast tocopyleft licenses,  
recipients of modified versions of Apache licensed code do not  
necessarily also get the above freedoms.

So yes, you may write your own parser using Xercesc as a model, as  
closed source.

However, you should think of several other issues before embarking on  
this.
You will lose the development community that is dedicated to  
supporting, maintaining and improving xercesc.
You will be taking on a long term responsibility for doing that for  
your branch of the software.
If you have lots of free time, and development resource available, I  
am pretty sure you can use it more efficiently and productively  
elsewhere.

We depend upon xercesc. It's a fantastic library, and it's very well  
supported and maintained.
Of course in the end it's it's your call.

  -Ben.

On 8 Apr 2009, at 22:55, dnewhous@rockwellcollins.com wrote:

> After doing more research I don't think it's feasible to build the  
> Xerces
> XML library on my target platform.  Would it be permissible under the
> Apache license to write my own XML parser, using Xerces as a model, in
> another programming language without releasing the source code?