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Posted to dev@pdfbox.apache.org by Jörg Henne <j....@levigo.de> on 2017/06/26 13:36:16 UTC
Contributing the JBig2 ImageIO Plugin to PDFBox
Hi all,
Apache PDFBox currently uses the JBig2 ImageIO-Plugin at https://github.com/levigo/jbig2-imageio as an optional component and recommends the use of it at https://pdfbox.apache.org/2.0/dependencies.html. I am writing this as a representative of the ISV levigo, the owner and publisher of this component. Besides being an open source component we use the component on our own software suite. Over the years we have invested significant time into it and have been maintaining it for many years so that I would consider its code-base reasonably mature and stable. However, we continue to address any bugs reported to us and have accepted several community-provided fixes.
The plugin in question is currently licensed under the GNU General Public License V3 with other licensing options available, including commercial licensing. Having PDFBox under the ASL and the plugin under a different license has long been a nuisance for PDFBox users which has deterred many users fron using it. On the other hand, many users have a strong need for it as our plugin is (IMHO) still the highest quality pure-Java open source decoder available.
We would like to change this situation by licensing the plugin under the ASL. At the same time, however, we think that it would make sense to move the code base over to a new home that makes it independent of a single vendor. That's where the ASF and the PDFBox project comes into play :-)
We are currently in the very early stages of evaluating such a transition. A few random thoughts:
- All of those thoughts are subject to the PDFBox community being willing to do this and accepting the contribution, obviously.
- One of the reasons for us to favor the ASF as a new home is that the ASF has strong provisions in place to ensure that a project can thrive without it being dependent on life-support by a single vendor.
- We need to do proper IP vetting: while the vast majority has been done by levigo there is one other GitHub committer who has provided bug fixes and whom we need to talk to.
- Package names and maven coordinates will have to be updated to reflect the transition
- After a transition colleagues of mine would continue to contribute to the maintenance of the component. The necessary committer rights would need to be bestowed upon them. I myself have been an Apache committed for many years, albeit almost completely inactive.
- It would make sense (and is required by the Apache rules) to have additional know-how about the component outside of levigo. I don't know whether there is enough interest in the PDFBox community to ensure this.
So that's it for now, I guess. Please let me know what you think.
Jörg Henne
--
levigo solutions gmbh Business IT.
Jörg Henne
Bebelsbergstr. 31
71088 Holzgerlingen
Germany
Telefon (Zentrale):
Telefax (Zentrale):
E-Mail: +49 7031 4161-20
+49 7031 4161-21
j.henne@levigo.de<ma...@levigo.de>
Geschäftsführer: Jürgen Mästling, Jörg Henne
Registergericht: Stuttgart HRB 245 178
USt-ID: DE216 017 084 <https://www.facebook.com/levigosystems> [cid:image5b9c5e.GIF@203e0afc.4294692c] <https://www.facebook.com/levigosolutions> [cid:image0822e9.GIF@ed4e83fb.4ab7eba1] <https://plus.google.com/+levigosolutionsgmbhHolzgerlingen> <https://plus.google.com/+levigosystemsgmbhHolzgerlingen> [cid:image6a4e57.GIF@e13fb82b.40bf3884] <https://www.xing.com/companies/levigosolutionsgmbh> <https://www.xing.com/companies/levigosystemsgmbh> [cid:imagee99deb.GIF@a2c123f6.4f908c0e] <http://www.levigo.de/>
Die Unternehmen und Marken der levigo gruppe: levigo<http://tra.fo/levigo> | jadice<http://tra.fo/jadice> | openthinclient<http://tra.fo/otc> | h-pcn<http://tra.fo/hpcn>
AW: Contributing the JBig2 ImageIO Plugin to PDFBox
Posted by Jörg Henne <j....@levigo.de>.
Hi Andreas,
thanks a lot for your feedback!
Andreas Lehmkühler <an...@lehmi.de> wrote:
> This is good news and higly appreciated!
>> We are currently in the very early stages of evaluating such a transition. A few random thoughts:
>> - All of those thoughts are subject to the PDFBox community? being willing to do this and accepting the contribution, obviously.
> I can think about 2 possible new homes within the ASF, Apache PDFBox and Apache Commons. The first option might be the easier way if it comes to the "paperwork".
PDFBox seems the more natural choice to me as, for example, levigo is very active in the PDF world, we've been a member of the PDF Association for a long time and feel "at home" in that context.
>> - We need to do proper IP vetting: while the vast majority has been done by levigo there is one other GitHub committer who has provided bug fixes and whom we need to talk to.
> Good catch, these are the important bits which have to be resolved first. After that you have to provide a Software Grant Agreement, see [1] for details, so that we can start the IP clearance process, see [2] and [3]
I've already started the process of getting approval from the relevant contributors.
>> - After a transition colleagues of mine would continue to contribute to the maintenance of the component. The necessary committer rights would need to be bestowed upon them. I myself have been an Apache committed for many years, albeit almost completely inactive.
> As an apache committer you might know that nobody can request committer rights but has to be voted in. But that is maybe just a formality. About how many devs are we talking here?
Currently, there are two colleagues of mine who are familiar with the component. Additionally, there is one other developer who has left us, but who continues to contribute to the maintenance.
>> So that's it for now, I guess. Please let me know what you think.
> I support your plan to integrate the plugin with pdfbox. We, the PDFbox PMC, have to discuss that topic first and have to perform a vote, but I guess this is just a formality.
Fine, in the mean time, we'll continue to do our homework. I'll keep you posted about the progress.
Thanks
Jörg Henne
--
levigo solutions gmbh Business IT.
Jörg Henne
Bebelsbergstr. 31
71088 Holzgerlingen
Germany
Telefon (Zentrale):
Telefax (Zentrale):
E-Mail: +49 7031 4161-20
+49 7031 4161-21
j.henne@levigo.de<ma...@levigo.de>
Geschäftsführer: Jürgen Mästling, Jörg Henne
Registergericht: Stuttgart HRB 245 178
USt-ID: DE216 017 084 <https://www.facebook.com/levigosystems> [cid:image0cd8b2.GIF@c9058bb7.4aa93f83] <https://www.facebook.com/levigosolutions> [cid:imageb96dc7.GIF@b4ff169a.4f8a62f9] <https://plus.google.com/+levigosolutionsgmbhHolzgerlingen> <https://plus.google.com/+levigosystemsgmbhHolzgerlingen> [cid:image20dc5a.GIF@d4beb856.4bafcee7] <https://www.xing.com/companies/levigosolutionsgmbh> <https://www.xing.com/companies/levigosystemsgmbh> [cid:image281103.GIF@c834bb16.4ab5a967] <http://www.levigo.de/>
Die Unternehmen und Marken der levigo gruppe: levigo<http://tra.fo/levigo> | jadice<http://tra.fo/jadice> | openthinclient<http://tra.fo/otc> | h-pcn<http://tra.fo/hpcn>
Re: Contributing the JBig2 ImageIO Plugin to PDFBox
Posted by Andreas Lehmkühler <an...@lehmi.de>.
Hi Jörg,
> Jörg Henne <j....@levigo.de> hat am 26. Juni 2017 um 15:36 geschrieben:
>
>
> Hi all,
>
>
> Apache PDFBox currently uses the JBig2 ImageIO-Plugin at https://github.com/levigo/jbig2-imageio as an optional component and recommends the use of it at https://pdfbox.apache.org/2.0/dependencies.html. I am writing this as a representative of the ISV levigo, the owner and publisher of this component. Besides being an open source component we use the component on our own software suite. Over the years we have invested significant time into it and have been maintaining it for many years so that I would consider its code-base reasonably mature and stable. However, we continue to address any bugs reported to us and have accepted several community-provided fixes.
>
>
> The plugin in question is currently licensed under the GNU General Public License V3 with other licensing options available, including commercial licensing. Having PDFBox under the ASL and the plugin under a different license has long been a nuisance for PDFBox users which has deterred many users fron using it. On the other hand, many users have a strong need for it as our plugin is (IMHO) still the highest quality pure-Java open source decoder available.
>
> We would like to change this situation by licensing the plugin under the ASL. At the same time, however, we think that it would make sense to move the code base over to a new home that makes it independent of a single vendor. That's where the ASF and the PDFBox project comes into play :-)
>
This is good news and higly appreciated!
> We are currently in the very early stages of evaluating such a transition. A few random thoughts:
>
> - All of those thoughts are subject to the PDFBox community being willing to do this and accepting the contribution, obviously.
>
I can think about 2 possible new homes within the ASF, Apache PDFBox and Apache Commons. The first option might be the easier way if it comes to the "paperwork".
> - One of the reasons for us to favor the ASF as a new home is that the ASF has strong provisions in place to ensure that a project can thrive without it being dependent on life-support by a single vendor.
>
+1
> - We need to do proper IP vetting: while the vast majority has been done by levigo there is one other GitHub committer who has provided bug fixes and whom we need to talk to.
>
Good catch, these are the important bits which have to be resolved first. After that you have to provide a Software Grant Agreement, see [1] for details, so that we can start the IP clearance process, see [2] and [3]
> - Package names and maven coordinates will have to be updated to reflect the transition
+1
> - After a transition colleagues of mine would continue to contribute to the maintenance of the component. The necessary committer rights would need to be bestowed upon them. I myself have been an Apache committed for many years, albeit almost completely inactive.
>
As an apache committer you might know that nobody can request committer rights but has to be voted in. But that is maybe just a formality. About how many devs are we talking here?
> - It would make sense (and is required by the Apache rules) to have additional know-how about the component outside of levigo. I don't know whether there is enough interest in the PDFBox community to ensure this.
>
Yes, diversity is an important aspect. I'm pretty sure that the code will attract other (pdfbox) developers once it is under the apache umbrella. The imaging [4] devs might be interested in the code as well.
> So that's it for now, I guess. Please let me know what you think.
I support your plan to integrate the plugin with pdfbox. We, the PDFbox PMC, have to discuss that topic first and have to perform a vote, but I guess this is just a formality.
Feel free to ask if there are any further questions.
> Jörg Henne
> <SNIP>
Andreas
[1] http://www.apache.org/licenses/
[2] http://incubator.apache.org/ip-clearance/pdfbox-padaf.html
[3] https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/PDFBOX-1056
[4] http://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-imaging/
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Re: Contributing the JBig2 ImageIO Plugin to PDFBox
Posted by Tilman Hausherr <TH...@t-online.de>.
Hello Jörg,
This is really great news. I am of course delighted because it would
mean we can distribute it, thus having a better user experience for
newbies. But Andreas knows more about what is to do to accept this
contribution, such a thing was done in the past with PADAF (now
Preflight) donated by atos worldline.
Tilman
Am 26.06.2017 um 15:36 schrieb Jörg Henne:
>
> Hi all,
>
>
> Apache PDFBox currently uses the JBig2 ImageIO-Plugin at
> https://github.com/levigo/jbig2-imageio as an optional component and
> recommends the use of it at
> https://pdfbox.apache.org/2.0/dependencies.html. I am writing this as
> a representative of the ISV levigo, the owner and publisher of this
> component. Besides being an open source component we use the component
> on our own software suite. Over the years we have invested significant
> time into it and have been maintaining it for many years so that I
> would consider its code-base reasonably mature and stable. However, we
> continue to address any bugs reported to us and have accepted several
> community-provided fixes.
>
>
> The plugin in question is currently licensed under the GNU General
> Public License V3 with other licensing options available, including
> commercial licensing. Having PDFBox under the ASL and the plugin under
> a different license has long been a nuisance for PDFBox users which
> has deterred many users fron using it. On the other hand, many users
> have a strong need for it as our plugin is (IMHO) still the highest
> quality pure-Java open source decoder available.
>
> We would like to change this situation by licensing the plugin under
> the ASL. At the same time, however, we think that it would make sense
> to move the code base over to a new home that makes it independent of
> a single vendor. That's where the ASF and the PDFBox project comes
> into play :-)
>
>
> We are currently in the very early stages of evaluating such a
> transition. A few random thoughts:
>
> - All of those thoughts are subject to the PDFBox community being
> willing to do this and accepting the contribution, obviously.
>
> - One of the reasons for us to favor the ASF as a new home is that the
> ASF has strong provisions in place to ensure that a project can thrive
> without it being dependent on life-support by a single vendor.
>
> - We need to do proper IP vetting: while the vast majority has been
> done by levigo there is one other GitHub committer who has provided
> bug fixes and whom we need to talk to.
>
> - Package names and maven coordinates will have to be updated to
> reflect the transition
>
> - After a transition colleagues of mine would continue to contribute
> to the maintenance of the component. The necessary committer rights
> would need to be bestowed upon them. I myself have been an Apache
> committed for many years, albeit almost completely inactive.
>
> - It would make sense (and is required by the Apache rules) to have
> additional know-how about the component outside of levigo. I don't
> know whether there is enough interest in the PDFBox community to
> ensure this.
>
>
> So that's it for now, I guess. Please let me know what you think.
>
>
> Jörg Henne
>
>
> --
>
> *levigo solutions gmbh */Business IT./
> JörgHenne
>
> Bebelsbergstr. 31
> 71088 Holzgerlingen
> Germany
> Telefon (Zentrale):
> Telefax (Zentrale):
> E-Mail: +49 7031 4161-20
> +49 7031 4161-21
> j.henne@levigo.de <ma...@levigo.de>
>
> Geschäftsführer: Jürgen Mästling, Jörg Henne
> Registergericht: Stuttgart HRB 245 178
> USt-ID: DE216 017 084
> <https://www.facebook.com/levigosolutions><https://plus.google.com/+levigosolutionsgmbhHolzgerlingen><https://www.xing.com/companies/levigosolutionsgmbh><http://www.levigo.de/>
>
>
> Die Unternehmen und Marken der levigo gruppe: levigo
> <http://tra.fo/levigo> | jadice <http://tra.fo/jadice> |
> openthinclient <http://tra.fo/otc> | h-pcn <http://tra.fo/hpcn>
>
>
>