This case study, which originally appeared on
Wazi, illustrates how OpenLogic addresses licensing issues that arise while certifying open source packages for inclusion in the Certified Library available on
OpenLogic Exchange (OLEX). Enterprises considering using gSOAP should note its multi-license model and thoroughly evaluate potential liabilities before deploying it.
Project Description
gSOAP eases the development of SOAP and XML Web services in C and C++ by performing XML to C/C++ language binding. By providing a transparent SOAP API that leverages strong typing to map XML schemas to C/C++ definitions, it frees users from the burden of WSDL and SOAP details.
Use gSOAP to implement or interact with web services. It is portable across a variety of platforms, and provides compiler tools for a WSDL parser, and a SOAP stub and skeleton compiler. It follows the WS-I Basic Profile 1.0a compliance recommendations, and warns about potential interoperability issues before building a new web service application. This helps to keep users from having to go through another development cycle to make the service compliant. Its supported standards include:
- SOAP 1.2
- SOAP RPC encoding
- SOAP document/literal style
- XML-RPC
- UDDI v2 inquire and publish APIs
- SOAP attachments: MIME, DIME and MTOM
- WS-Addressing
- WS-Discovery
- WS-Security
- SSL/TLS encryption and certificate authentication
License Issue
gSOAP is distributed under several licenses:
- The GNU General Public License
- The gSOAP Public License 1.3, which is based on the Mozilla Public License 1.1
- The gSOAP Commercial License
The community made no clear statements regarding the choice to multi-license the project. Further, the relationship between the licenses was unclear. Following the OpenLogic certification process, we were able to provide customers with the following guidelines:
- The software is offered under the GPL to enable it to be used with open source projects, and requires all software development to be open-sourced under the GPL or a GPL-compatible license.
- The gSOAP Public License allows commercial and non-commercial use of gSOAP without fees or royalties. It can have products built on top and distributed under any license, including proprietary, as long as a notice of copyright and disclaimer of warranty is in the product’s documentation.
- The gSOAP Commercial License is for use with the wsdl2h WSDL parser, UDDI code, and sample applications which are only licensed under the GPL or the gSOAP Commercial License. Any use of the listed tools or source code for proprietary product development requires the gSOAP Commercial License.
Resolution
Multi-licensed projects are a common source of confusion for users of open source software. In this instance, OpenLogic was able to clarify the intent and obligations of the three unique licensing options. As a service to our customers and the community at-large, we've added an entry to the OLEX knowledge base which explains the licensing of gSOAP in detail. Perhaps as a result of our input and inquiries, the project has also updated their Web site to explain the license situation more clearly.
