[bind10-dev] Logging API - Review Required + Choice of Logging Package

[Shane Kerr]

Jeremy,

On Mon, 2010-12-20 at 09:50 -0600, Jeremy C. Reed wrote:
> On Mon, 20 Dec 2010, Stephen Morris wrote:
> 
> > >> Log4cxx (http://logging.apache.org)
> > > Apache 2.0 license
> > This seems to meet our requirements, and as I understand the Apache 
> > licence, this is also compatible with the licence we aim for in 
> > BIND-10.
> 
> Note that the "Apache license" is not the "Apache 2.0 license". This 
> newer license is long and more strict and depending on the reader 
> (court) may be incompatible with our goals. I believe this is only a 
> problem if we need to integrate their code into our code base (such as 
> we need to maintain a custom version of it).

Tricky.

For non-essential parts of BIND 10, then compatible or even incompatible
licenses are okay, as these can be configured out. For example,
including support for MySQL will probably involve using GPL libraries,
and we may need to link against proprietary libraries to support certain
features in the future.

However for core BIND 10, we need to be careful about licenses.

I *think* we are okay with the Apache 2.0 license. If I understand it
correctly, you can make distribute binary-only versions, and make
unlimited modifications and distribute in either text or binary format,
with only minimal restrictions. 

The one restriction that I'm not sure about is the "Grant of Patent
License". As I understand it, anyone who becomes a "Contributor" and
distributes the software - code or binary - gives all patents required
to run it away for free. This means you cannot modify the library to
include a patented technology with the intent to sell it.

I do not know if this is compatible with the goals of ISC in adopting
the BSD licenses, but I'll find out.

--
Shane