[Xapian-discuss] GPL as the main reason why Xapian might not get the widespread success it deserves?

Olly Betts olly at survex.com
Mon Sep 10 06:01:37 BST 2012


On Fri, Sep 07, 2012 at 11:18:26PM +0200, Michael Hasselmann wrote:
> I realise that the GPL license question has been discussed in 2003 and
> in 2007, extensively. Back then, the conclusion seem to have been that
> in-process usage is not possible for most use-cases and that instead, a
> network layer/IPC mechanism is required to use Xapian with any non-GPL
> software.

There was further discussion just a few months ago too.

> I think the project is severely undermining its own potential success. I
> see that there are even consulting services available, but which
> commercially-orientated project is supposed to ever use Xapian?

Many commercial entities use Xapian.  A few are listed on the website at
http://xapian.org/users but there are many more.

> Has there ever been a motion to finally relicense Xapian to LGPL to make
> it easier to adapt in commercial solutions? Or did I just miss something
> really obvious?

We'd love to relicense, and have agreement to do so for a lot of the
code, but there is still a significant amount of code which we don't have
permission to relicense, and for which we aren't likely to ever get
permission.  This is all older code, and it is getting replaced over
time as part of the natural evolution of the code.

See also:

http://trac.xapian.org/wiki/FAQ/CommercialLicence
http://trac.xapian.org/wiki/Licensing

Cheers,
    Olly



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