Licensing my code under AGPL since it uses iText

Question

I created a command line wrapper which basically uses iText to list fields from a pdf file and merge an fdf file with the pdf file.

I know iText is under AGPL but it seems that they only have a license.txt and notice.txt and a agpl.txt file packaged into their .jar. I am not good with licenses so I am not sure what is required for me but I do know that since I am using iText I must also make my source code AGPL.

• Can I simply copy these licenses and include them in my .jar or do I need to rewrite them specific for my code?
• Will including a .txt file with the license in it in the .jar file be sufficient or will I need to paste the license into each source code file?

Answer 1

Every file should probably contain the following:

one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it does.

Copyright (C) <year>  <name of author>

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU Affero General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/&gt;.

And just toss the files in the jar. No modification is needed

Answer 2

The AGPL contains instructions on how to add it to your own program (see below). That being said, you can see my blog (linked from my profile) for specific issues with iText's use of AGPL. I don't think it is a big deal if you are only integrating your code (that you own the copyright to) and iText's code. However, if you are combining a third party AGPL project, things could get hairy.

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html

How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.

To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively state the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.

<one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it does.>

Copyright (C) `<year>  <name of author>`

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU Affero General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
along with this program.  If not, see `<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/&gt;`.

Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.

If your software can interact with users remotely through a computer network, you should also make sure that it provides a way for users to get its source. For example, if your program is a web application, its interface could display a "Source" link that leads users to an archive of the code. There are many ways you could offer source, and different solutions will be better for different programs; see section 13 for the specific requirements.

You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if necessary. For more information on this, and how to apply and follow the GNU AGPL, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/&gt;.