How to handle non-free parts of a free software project

[Manuel Faux]

On Mon, 11 Nov 2013 15:08:10 -0800
Toshio Kuratomi <a.badger at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 12:22:16AM +0200, Elad Alfassa wrote:
> > 
> > On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 12:13 AM, Manuel Faux <manuel.faux at conf.at>
> > wrote:
> > 
> >     NetBeans 7.4 requires a file called jnlp-servlet.jar which is
> > part of the Oracle JDK and itself non-free licensed. The file is
> > not required for building, but for specific functions of the
> > software. 
> > 
> > 
> >     More concrete, the file is required if "one wants to build a
> > packaged war file of JNLP version of a suite".
> > 
> >     It seems like only the class
> > jnlp.sample.servlet.JnlpDownloadServlet is required, but I could
> > not find it in the OpenJKD.
> > 
> >     How is this normally handled? Should we add a file to the docs
> > which describes that for this specific functionality that file is
> > required? 
> >     Manuel
> >     --
> >     devel mailing list
> >     devel at lists.fedoraproject.org
> >     https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/devel
> >     Fedora Code of Conduct: http://fedoraproject.org/code-of-conduct
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > The answer is simple. Remove the file. Don't distribute it in
> > Fedora. Have a README.fedora file in /usr/share/docs/netbeans (or
> > whatever) which explains that this file was removed due to
> > licensing issues and how to get it.
> > 
> Depending on the license, you may just need to remove the file in the
> spec file or you may need to clean it from the tarball before that
> tarball is uploaded to the lookaside cache (via fedpkg new-sources).
> 
> You may also need to patch the software so that it gracefully handles
> the lack of that file at runtime.  Perhaps removing the menu entry
> that won't function or popping up a dialog to explain that the
> netbeans we ship can't use that non-free functionality.
> 
> -Toshio

Thanks for your input.

I already asked in the legal mailing list, and it was suggested that I
might ask at Oracle if they change the license in a way that it
complies to free software. But even if they would do it, it would take
some time, and I don't want to wait for that. So in between I will go on
by just don't shipping that file.

Manuel