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<h1>Apache License v2.0 and GPL Compatibility</h1>
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<div class="section-content">
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<p>
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The <a href="http://www.fsf.org/">Free Software Foundation</a>
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<a href="http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/#apache2">considers</a>
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the <a href="http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0">Apache License, Version 2.0</a>
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to be a <a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a>
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license, <a href="http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/compat.html">compatible</a>
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with version 3 of the <a href="http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html">GPL</a>.
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The <a href="http://www.softwarefreedom.org/">Software Freedom Law Center</a>
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provides
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<a href="http://www.softwarefreedom.org/resources/2007/gpl-non-gpl-collaboration.html">practical advice</a>
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for developers about including permissively licensed source.
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</p>
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<p>Apache 2 software can therefore be included in GPLv3 projects,
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because the GPLv3
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license accepts our software into GPLv3 works. However, GPLv3 software
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cannot be included in Apache projects. The licenses are incompatible in one
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direction only, and it is a result of ASF's licensing philosophy and the
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GPLv3 authors' interpretation of copyright law.</p>
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<p>This licensing incompatibility applies *only* when some Apache project
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software becomes a derivative work of some GPLv3 software, because then the
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Apache software would have to be distributed under GPLv3. This would be
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incompatible with ASF's requirement that all Apache software must be
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distributed under the Apache License 2.0.</p>
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<p>We avoid GPLv3 software because merely linking to it is considered by the
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GPLv3 authors to create a derivative work. We want to honor their license.
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Unless GPLv3 licensors relax this interpretation of their own license
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regarding linking, our licensing philosophies are fundamentally
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incompatible. This is an identical issue for both GPLv2 and GPLv3.</p>
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<p>Despite our best efforts, the FSF has never considered the Apache
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License to be compatible with GPL version 2, citing the patent
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termination and indemnification provisions as restrictions not present
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in the older GPL license. The Apache Software Foundation believes
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that you should always try to obey the constraints expressed by the
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copyright holder when redistributing their work.</p>
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<h4>
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No, we don't have any patents
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<p>
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The Apache Software Foundation is a nonprofit organization
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that is dedicated to open source software development.
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We never knowingly incorporate patented technology in our own products
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unless such technology has been offered free for everyone.
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<p>
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Please note that this discussion only benefits third parties that
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produce GPL-covered products. The Apache Software Foundation does not
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allow its own projects to distribute software under licenses more
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restrictive than the Apache License, and the Free Software Foundation
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does not distribute software under the Apache License.
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<p>
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The ASF will not dual-license our software because such licenses
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make it impossible to determine the conditions under which we have
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agreed to collaborate on a collective product, and are thus contrary to
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the Apache spirit of open, collaborative development among individuals,
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industry, and nonprofit organizations.
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<li><a href="http://jakarta.apache.org/" title="Server-side Java">Jakarta</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://labs.apache.org/" title="The Innovation Laboratories of the Apache Software Foundation">Labs</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://lenya.apache.org/" title="Content Management System">Lenya</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://logging.apache.org/" title="Cross-language logging services">Logging</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://lucene.apache.org/" title="Search engine library">Lucene</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://maven.apache.org/" title="Java project management and comprehension tools">Maven</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://mina.apache.org/" title="Multipurpose Infrastructure for Network Application">Mina</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://myfaces.apache.org/" title="JavaServer(tm) Faces implementation and components">MyFaces</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://ode.apache.org/" title="Orchestration Director Engine: Business Process Management (BPM), Process Orchestration and Workflow through service compositioni.">ODE</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://ofbiz.apache.org/" title="Open for Business: enterprise automation software">OFBiz</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://poi.apache.org/" title="Java API for OLE 2 Compound Documents">POI</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://portals.apache.org/" title="Portal technology">Portals</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://qpid.apache.org/" title="Multiple language implementation of the latest Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP)">Qpid</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://roller.apache.org/" title="Java blog server">Roller</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://struts.apache.org/" title="Model 2 framework for building Java web applications">Struts</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://tiles.apache.org/" title="A templating framework for web application user interfaces">Tiles</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://velocity.apache.org/" title="A Java Templating Engine">Velocity</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://wicket.apache.org/" title="Component-based Java Web Application Framework.">Wicket</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/" title="Conversion from XML to graphical output">XML Graphics</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://attic.apache.org/" title="Inactive project repository">Attic</a></li>
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<h6><a
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<h6>Foundation Projects</h6>
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<li><a href="/foundation/conferences.html" title="Meetings of developers and users">Conferences</a></li>
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<h6>How it works</h6>
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<li><a href="/foundation/how-it-works.html">Introduction</a></li>
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<h6>Community</h6>
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<li><a href="/memorials/">Memorials</a></li>
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<h6>Related Sites</h6>
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<li><a href="http://apachecon.com/" title="Official Apache Conference">ApacheCon</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://feathercast.org/" title="Apache Podcasts">Feathercast</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://planet.apache.org/committers/" title="Apache Committers' Blogs">PlanetApache</a></li>
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<p>Copyright © 2009 The Apache Software Foundation, Licensed under the <a href="http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0">Apache License, Version 2.0</a>.<br/>
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Apache and the Apache feather logo are trademarks of The Apache Software Foundation.</p>
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