checkstyle/checkstyle-noframes-sorted.xsl is licensed under LGPL

[Sebastián Mancilla <sm...@gmail.com>]

The file checkstyle/checkstyle-noframes-sorted.xsl, which was added by


https://github.com/apache/hive/commit/84a96667844810e9925598886201de444d9b60d4
(https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/HIVE-990)

was taken from the Checkstyle repository, which is licensed under LGPL.
It's currently in the "checkstyle/contribution" repository (still under
LGPL):


https://github.com/checkstyle/contribution/blob/master/xsl/checkstyle-noframes-sorted.xsl

but it was added to the main repository by:


https://github.com/checkstyle/checkstyle/commit/28086be0e207153372f4e499ac0f68afc28776f9

which is a modification from the original file added by:


https://github.com/checkstyle/checkstyle/commit/946f15a105c800ad1ae4d6d1fcf9453255ef4b4d

Can a project using the Apache 2.0 license have a file that is under the
LGPL? My understanding is that it is not allowed, only linking is possible.

I ask because I took that file from the Gradle repo, which in turn took it
from you, and need to figure out if it is legal to have it as part of my
Apache 2.0 licensed project.


-- 
Sebastián Mancilla

Re: checkstyle/checkstyle-noframes-sorted.xsl is licensed under LGPL

[Stamatis Zampetakis <za...@gmail.com>]

Hi Sebastian,

Thanks for bringing this up.

The ASF is rather explicit about category-x licenses [1] and LGPL is part
of them; they are not allowed neither in the source nor in the convenience
binary releases [2].
They can be present in the repo, used during the build, but must not be
part of the release.

Based on this, it seems that Hive is in violation of the ASF policy since
there are releases which include the aforementioned file.
I think the file should be excluded from the release artifacts or removed
completely from the repo.
Not sure what needs to be done (if anything) for the past releases.

Best,
Stamatis

[1] https://www.apache.org/legal/resolved.html#category-x
[2] https://www.apache.org/legal/resolved.html#prohibited

On Thu, Oct 28, 2021 at 2:54 AM Sebastián Mancilla <sm...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> The file checkstyle/checkstyle-noframes-sorted.xsl, which was added by
>
>
>
> https://github.com/apache/hive/commit/84a96667844810e9925598886201de444d9b60d4
> (https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/HIVE-990)
>
> was taken from the Checkstyle repository, which is licensed under LGPL.
> It's currently in the "checkstyle/contribution" repository (still under
> LGPL):
>
>
>
> https://github.com/checkstyle/contribution/blob/master/xsl/checkstyle-noframes-sorted.xsl
>
> but it was added to the main repository by:
>
>
>
> https://github.com/checkstyle/checkstyle/commit/28086be0e207153372f4e499ac0f68afc28776f9
>
> which is a modification from the original file added by:
>
>
>
> https://github.com/checkstyle/checkstyle/commit/946f15a105c800ad1ae4d6d1fcf9453255ef4b4d
>
> Can a project using the Apache 2.0 license have a file that is under the
> LGPL? My understanding is that it is not allowed, only linking is possible.
>
> I ask because I took that file from the Gradle repo, which in turn took it
> from you, and need to figure out if it is legal to have it as part of my
> Apache 2.0 licensed project.
>
>
> --
> Sebastián Mancilla
>