OpenOffice.org moving to LGPLv3

All,

Some interesting news.

Summary
========

* The license for code is changing from the early LGPL v 2.1 to 3.0 
effective the Beta of OpenOffice.org 3.0. (The actual date of this 
beta has not been finalized.)

* The Joint Copyright Assignment form (JCA) is being replaced by the 
Sun Microsystems Inc. Contributor Agreement (SCA). This change is 
effective immediately with this announcement.

Background
==========

Late last year, there was a discussion about the implications of the 
ratification of GPLv3 or LGPLv3 for OpenOffice.org among the 
OpenOffice.org project leads. The leads were generally in favour of 
adopting the updated licenses. The outcome of this and other 
discussions is that Sun is changing the license for the OpenOffice.org 
codebase to the more flexible and protective LGPL v3 [0], effective 
with the beta of OpenOffice.org 3.0 which is due later this year. This 
change is supported by the OpenOffice.org Community Council.

This move forward is the natural evolutionary step to take for a 
codebase using a license from the FSF license family. The drafting 
process for the license involved substantial FOSS community input and 
we will benefit from this work. In particular, the new license 
includes additional protections for the community against software 
patents.

OpenOffice.org will continue using the LGPL so as to minimize the 
disruption to our community and expanding ecosystem, which evolved 
around the LGPL codebase. The LGPL grants flexibility to a broad range 
of users and developers, while still ensuring that modifications to 
the code are contributed back to the community.

The new license is a major reason to exchange the Joint Copyright 
Assignment(JCA) with the Sun Contributor Agreement(SCA) [1]. For 
OpenOffice.org there will be an addendum, which accommodates 
developers of the core OOo codebase and of non-core extensions through 
different contribution models. It does not change the fact that 
contributions to the product packaged as OpenOffice.org require an SCA.

The addendum enables OpenOffice.org to more easily host the source 
code of extensions, and thus promotes collaboration with other 
interested parties on the respective extension in a familiar 
environment. There is similar flexibility for documentation. The 
creation of the related contribution guidelines is in progress.

A large number of GPL/LGPL projects have already moved to v3 [2]. For 
OpenOffice.org the next major release is the right time to change. 
Preparations will start immediately, so that we can publish 
OpenOffice.org 3.0 Beta under LGPLv3.

The SCA, including the OpenOffice.org addendum, will be published on 
the OpenOffice.org site together with a FAQ and a pointer to the Sun 
SCA FAQ [3]. It comes into effect with this announcement. See also our 
FAQ on licensing. [4].

A copy of this announcement can be found at http://www.openoffice.org/licenses/newlicense2008.html
 .

Regards,

Louis Suarez-Potts
Community Manager
OpenOffice.org
Sun Microsystems, Inc.


[0] http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/lgpl.html
[1] http://www.openoffice.org/licenses/sca.pdf
[2] http://gpl3.palamida.com:8080/index.jsp
[3] http://www.sun.com/software/opensource/contributor_agreem...
[4] http://www.openoffice.org/FAQs/faq-licensing.html