Repackaging Jasper-Reports into an application specific OSGi bundle, legal or not?

Question

Hi,

I wanted to ask (probably a silly) question regarding the packaging of existing open-source components as OSGi bundles (more specifically Jasper Reports).

I have an application that I am converting from a monolithic jar-hell type architecture to something more moduler and OSGi is my weapon of choice. There are various modules I have in mind but one of the modules is a reporting module.

My own reporting module will be a jar file containing my code that should reference a Jasper Reports bundle. Trouble is, Jasper reports depends on far far too many libraries and is quite monolithic in its own right. I therefore wish to build my own Jasper Reports bundle but this is where I start getting confused about the legality of repackaging. I don't plan to re-compile but I do plan to re-bundle removing known items that I do not require.

Can anyone offer advice on whether I am permitted to repackage (not recompile or extend) open-source libraries into OSGi bundles without falling foul of 'derivative works' clause of LGPL?

I noticed that Groovy seems to offer some monolithic jars that include all dependancies and actually goes so far as to re-arrange the packages of its dependancies so that there are no namespace conflicts. This seems to me to be a violation of the license but if anyone can reassure me that this is legal then I would feel safer about my less intrusive custom-bundling of Jasper reports.

Thanks for your time,

Chris

Answer 1

Not exactly sure about this part

without falling foul of 'derivative works' clause of LGPL?

But from my own experience, i once was about to publish a reporting module from my own work on sourceforge. Namely it was "JSF-Jasper reporting", but my company didn't agree to open source it. On the other hand i found much support on the JasperForge forums when i mentioned it and gave details about the module so someone can re-implement it.

Answer 2

I believe that this is permitted under the terms of the license. Remember, your application is anyway a "derivative work" of ALL the libraries you use, whether or not you repackage any of them.

However, IANAL, this is not professional legal advice, and your company should consult with its own lawyer if it has any concerns about its use of Open Source software.