Re: Mauve license

[Stuart Ballard <stuart dot a dot ballard at gmail dot com>]

On 2/16/06, Archie Cobbs <archie@dellroad.org> wrote:
> This Apache/Harmony thing vs. Claspath/GPL debate is just so tempting.. :-)

Heh.

> But let's talk practicalities.. here's a simple thing I don't understand.
>
> What exactly prevents Harmony from using Mauve as a test suite?

Nothing, and in fact I think they plan to do just that.

But as I understand it their current plan is to use Mauve *in addition
to* (and secondary to) their own test suite and only develop their own
tests in their own repository.

So we end up with two test suites being developed by two disjoint
groups, both of whom are free to (and likely to) *run* the other
group's suite against their own implementation, but still no actual
cooperation.

> So then if Apache only wants to run Mauve tests, what impact does Mauve
> being GPL have? Why can Apache folks just download Mauve and run it,
> the same way Classpath hackers do? Mauve is its own self-contained project.

They can, but the Classpath hackers don't just run it, they write it too.

Basically, I just don't see why Mauve *should* be GPL. There's
absolutely no benefit in claiming copyleft on it and a considerable
benefit from not doing so. Other than the issue of finding copyright
holders, why *shouldn't* it be X11 or modified-BSD licensed so that
anyone can use it as they see fit?

I'm a GPL supporter in general but using it on a testsuite seems
really wrong to me.

> As to the issue of converting Mauve to JUnit, that's surely a lot of work
> any way you slice it, and in any case that seems like an orthogonal issue.

Yes, at this moment I'm only concerned with political issues.
Technical issues are so much easier that they can be deferred for now
;)

Stuart.

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