What "disclaimer" should I write in my software starter for using Jakarta common lib?

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etienno@gmail.com - 28 Jul 2006 09:51 GMT

Hi,

I have a small question. What kind of disclaimer should I write in my
software starter lines when this software uses some Jakarta librairies
(Log4J, Common-Lib, etc)...?

"*** This software use Log4J librairies under the GPL licence ***" or
something like that...

any idea?

Thanks

ETienne

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Chris Uppal - 28 Jul 2006 10:42 GMT

> I have a small question. What kind of disclaimer should I write in my
> software starter lines when this software uses some Jakarta librairies
> (Log4J, Common-Lib, etc)...?

The Apache License FAQ might help:

http://www.apache.org/foundation/licence-FAQ.html

as well as reading the license itself (but, of course, you've already done that
;-)

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html

> "*** This software use Log4J librairies under the GPL licence ***" or
> something like that...

I'm not sure about GPL, as far as I know the Apache software doesn't use the
GPL (just as well or I, for one, wouldn't touch it). See:

http://www.apache.org/licenses/GPL-compatibility.html

FWIW, I don't read the license as requiring any formal acknowledgement beyond
including a copy of the license (assuming you are merely redistributing
unmodified stuff). You might look to see what Sun do, since they include
Apache software in the JRE (e.g. com/sun/org/apache/* in rt.jar). NB: I am not
a lawyer.

Personally, I /would/ include an acknowledgement -- as a matter of professional
pride as well as courtesy. But how it was phrased and what information it
included (e.g. web links), would depend on where it appeared (there might be
more than one place), and who I expected to be reading it.

-- chris

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Oliver Wong - 28 Jul 2006 15:29 GMT

>> I have a small question. What kind of disclaimer should I write in my
>> software starter lines when this software uses some Jakarta librairies
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
>
> http://www.apache.org/licenses/GPL-compatibility.html

With the GPL, you're expected to print the license to console or
something like that. Yes, I've actually read the license.

*Tries to find the exact wording* Here it is:

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt
<quote>
If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
when it starts in an interactive mode:

Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author
Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show
w'.
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.

The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the appropriate
parts of the General Public License. Of course, the commands you use may
be called something other than `show w' and `show c'; they could even be
mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your program.
</quote>

In my GPL'ed Java GUI apps, what I usually do is make the above text
output to the console (along with the debugging information), where it
doesn't intrude on the "casual" user, but is easily accessible and visible
to those parties who are interested.

- Oliver

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What "disclaimer" should I write in my software starter for using Jakarta common lib?

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