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revision 765453, Thu Apr 16 02:37:39 2009 UTC revision 767889, Thu Apr 23 10:57:32 2009 UTC
# Line 77  the Line 77  the 77  to be a <a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a>  to be a <a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a>
78  license, <a href="http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/compat.html">compatible</a> with version 3 of the <a href="http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html">GPL</a>.  license, <a href="http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/compat.html">compatible</a> with version 3 of the <a href="http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html">GPL</a>.
79  </p>  </p>
80    <p>Apache 2 software can therefore be included in GPLv3 projects,
81    because the GPLv3
82    license accepts our software into GPLv3 works. However, GPLv3 software
83    cannot be included in Apache projects. The licenses are incompatible in one
84    direction only, and it is a result of ASF's licensing philosophy and the
85    GPLv3 authors' interpretation of copyright law.</p>
86    <p>This licensing incompatibility applies *only* when some Apache project
87    software becomes a derivative work of some GPLv3 software, because then the
88    Apache software would have to be distributed under GPLv3. This would be
89    incompatible with ASF's requirement that all Apache software must be
90    distributed under the Apache License 2.0.</p>
91    <p>We avoid GPLv3 software because merely linking to it is considered by the
92    GPLv3 authors to create a derivative work. We want to honor their license.
93    Unless GPLv3 licensors relax this interpretation of their own license
94    regarding linking, our licensing philosophies are fundamentally
95    incompatible. This is an identical issue for both GPLv2 and GPLv3.</p>
96  <p>Despite our best efforts, the FSF has never considered the Apache  <p>Despite our best efforts, the FSF has never considered the Apache
97  License to be compatible with GPL version 2, citing the patent  License to be compatible with GPL version 2, citing the patent
98  termination and indemnification provisions as restrictions not present  termination and indemnification provisions as restrictions not present
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