XOM API for Processing XML with Java

[Elliotte Harold <elharo AT metalab.unc.edu>]

John Cowan wrote:

> IMO this is "mere aggregation" as defined in the last paragraph of section
> 2 of the GPL or LGPL.  After all, if they were side-by-side on the disk,
> it would certainly be "mere aggregation".  A JAR file is just a partly
> compressed snapshot of a part of the disk, and is basically nothing but
> a copy of it in copyright terms.


Hmm. Possible. The clause is "In addition, mere aggregation of another 
work not based on the Program with the Program (or with a work based on 
the Program) on a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not 
bring the other work under the scope of this License."

I guess it comes down to whether bundling in a JAR archive is "mere 
aggregation or not." Arguably it is. Arguably it isn't. I read "on a 
volume of a storage or distribution medium" as meaning that just because 
you put two libraries together on the same CD, one is not infected with 
the other. Could a jar file be considered a distribution medium? Maybe. 
If it is, though, then the real unit becomes the class, and the only way 
the infection spreads is by copying and pasting code from a L/GPL class 
into another.

Anyway, I fired off a message to the FSF licensing folks asking for 
their opinion.

--
Elliotte Rusty Harold  elharo AT metalab.unc.edu
XML in a Nutshell 3rd Edition Just Published!
http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/xian3/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0596007647/cafeaulaitA/ref=nosim