johnbwilliams wrote on Tuesday, March 23, 2010:
Functionality we are adding to OpenEMR requires a 3rd party module using Apache License, Version 2. Is this acceptable for OpenEMR?
sunsetsystems wrote on Tuesday, March 23, 2010:
I don’t think so, since OpenEMR specifies GPL v2 and higher. What’s the module in question?
johnbwilliams wrote on Tuesday, March 23, 2010:
The module in question is a PHP web services library. I am a bit confused by the GPL v2 or higher requirement - doesn’t OpenEMR bundle in the Apache httpd licensed under Apache License Version 2? Its seems like we should be able to figure out how to bundle this web services module in the same manner that the Apache httpd is bundled with OpenEMR, without violating the OpenEMR GPL requriement.
sunsetsystems wrote on Tuesday, March 23, 2010:
I don’t feel qualified to judge this one… was just looking at a comment in Wikipedia that Apache License v2 is not compatible with GPL v2. In any case the normal OpenEMR distribution does not bundle Apache. Someone with more legal smarts than me will need to comment on this.
johnbwilliams wrote on Tuesday, March 23, 2010:
I guess this module doesn’t have to be part of OpenEMR, in the same manner that Apache is not part of OpenEMR.
drbowen wrote on Tuesday, March 23, 2010:
Dear John,
We have been asking everyone to use the GPL v2 for consistency of licensing. The GPL v2 requires modules to have “compatible open source licensing.” I am also not an attorney but I can answer some basic questions.
Is this a module of OpenEMR, a separate severe process, or a module of Apache?
If this is a separate server or a module of Apache then using the Apache license v2 is fine.
If this is a module or library for OpenEMR then is this an open source module or library?
If you are leaving the module or library open source then you are probably fine to use the Apache v2.
If you really want a better answer, the Software Freedom Law Center is able to provide more definitive advice on this type of question:
Sam Bowen, MD
http://oemr.org/
johnbwilliams wrote on Thursday, March 25, 2010:
Dear Dr. Bowen,
Apache web services provides APIs for Java and C only. The 3rd party module that is the subject of this thread is an Apache-compatible web services module poviding an API for PHP. I suggest that this module is an extention of Apache, and per your post, propose that we should be OK with the Apache license v2 for this module.
John
anonymous wrote on Thursday, March 25, 2010:
While seeing this thread build I believe something is lost in translation here between parties.
John, are you referring to an issue with your module being compatible with the actual version of Apache v2.x or the GPL License v2? There is a difference as one is the actual development version and the other is licensing terms upon which Apache is released upon.
OpenEMR is built on PHP and there is a PHP module for Apache that you must install with Apache in order for the Apache Web Server to render PHP files. Currently I use Apache v2.2 without any issues along with PHP v5.2.
As long as your module is Open Source then I believe it will be ok to implement it without violating and GPL Licensing Agreements.
Chris
www.ehrlive.com
sunsetsystems wrote on Thursday, March 25, 2010:
My guess is that if the 3rd party module is part of a normal Linux or LAMP distribution and does not need to be distributed with OpenEMR, then you are OK. What is the module?
johnbwilliams wrote on Thursday, March 25, 2010:
The module is not a part of a normal Linux or LAMP distribution, but should be as it provides a PHP API to a core httpd function.
Let me confirm the module is meeting all of our needs before we start discussing it by name.
John