Does KDE have a policy for shipping libraries licensed under the Apache license?

Simon Redman simon at ergotech.com
Mon Dec 19 22:34:11 GMT 2022


KDE Connect has had this PR languishing for a couple of years, with a 
question I am not able to answer.
https://invent.kde.org/network/kdeconnect-android/-/merge_requests/192

The author has added a (very useful) library, which happens to be 
licensed under the Apache v2 license.

KDE Connect code is GPL-licensed. GPL section 2 says that the entire 
work must be distributed as GPL. 
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.en.html

In my eyes, the only meaningful part of the work is the source code, at 
which level the concept of distributing a library does not apply. The 
.apk that we give to users is just a convenience to them, they could 
just as well build it themselves. The .apk contains both the KDE Connect 
GPL code and the Apache-licensed libraries, but by itself has no 
specific license (and doesn't claim to).

But my view don't matter, what matters is what happens in court, in the 
event anyone ever accuses KDE of violating license terms. As I am not 
qualified to expose KDE to any additional risk, is there a policy (or 
accepted precedent) for distributing Apache-licensed libraries?

Thanks,
Simon


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