Re: [Cp-tools-discuss] Re: gjdoc

[Nic Ferrier]

Julian Scheid <address@hidden> writes:

> Libxml2 isn't under GPL either - it's released under the MIT
> license - so actually the Gjdoc version currently in CVS also
> relies on non-GPLed software (at least when it comes to HTML
> generation.)
> 
> So technically, while Gjdoc works on a 100% "free" toolchain, it
> doesn't run on a 100% GPLed toolchain - not in the past, and
> obviously not in the near future.
> 
> I understand that the ultimate goal is to provide all Cp-tools
> with no dependencies on non-GPLed third-party software. But until
> this is possible, what's the official GNU policy towards this
> end - especially when it comes down to static linking? Who can
> give a definitive statement to this issue?
> 
> I'd be happy to go along with Xalan for now, but I wonder if we
> can (or should) encourage users to download Xalan, and provide a
> tailored build file, or usage instructions for it. Something
> like "make sure you have Xalan, Saxon or another JAXP-compliant
> XSL processor on your CLASSPATH." Or - for the gjc-based build -
> "you have to link Xalan-foo.jar into the executable for XSL
> processing to work."

I don't like the idea of recommending xalan (which is why I hope to
write this libxslt wrapper).

I know that libxml uses the MIT licence (which one? expat? X11?) but
it's obviously GPL compatible. Since one GNU project is already
relying on it I think it's safe for gjdoc to rely on it.

When I've finished my wrapper I hope it will go into Classpath and
GCJ as a standard part of the build. XML seems to be that important
to java these days (another reason why I want to write the wrapper is
to reduce the amount of work the GNU java community has to do to keep
up with the language: libxml2 will give us schema and so forth - stuff
that aelfred2 is unlikely ever to do).


However, that's all by the by. I haven't written this wrapper yet, I
haven't even started. I am aware it's high priority (it's high
priority to me as well since Paperclips doesn't natively compile with
GCJ right now because of a bug in aelfred2).


Nic