License for the Sheet extension

[mamarin]

Hi,

I know that Primefaces Extensions are licensed under Apache v2 with the exception of the CKEditor. However, the Sheet extension says that it is based on Handsontable and, when I went to their website to check the license (just to be sure) I found that the component is not licensed under the Apache license; it can only be used for free for teaching, academic research and personal experimentation, in any other case you have to obtain a license that is completely out of reach for us. My question is: Is the license from Handsontable applicable or can you confirm that the Apache v2 license is still applicable to PFE Sheet?

Best regards,

[tandraschko]

I hope melloware can check it.
Otherwise we have to outsource the sheet in a own JAR probably without Apache license.

[Melloware]

You can read about it here: https://github.com/handsontable/handson ... ssues/5831

PFE is using HandsonTable CE (Community Edition) 6.2.2 which is MIT license and very friendly with Apache 2.0

Handsontable 7.0+ they decided to switch to a commercial license thus PFE will be forever on 6.2.2.

Hope that answers your question.

It was also documented here: https://github.com/primefaces-extension ... issues/660

[mamarin]

Hello,

Yes, you perfectly answered my question; thank you for your prompt response.

I see a problem in the future: as Hansontable 6.2.2 is no longer maintained, I assume that sooner or later it will be difficult to keep using it due to security concerns. Are you aware of any fork that intends to maintain that version, at least for security updates? If at the end you have to switch to another product and it has a license incompatible with Apache 2.0, I think it would be better to put it in a separate JAR with a different license as tandraschko suggested.

Best regards,

M.A. Marin

[Melloware]

Good questions..

1. Luckily HT has been around a long time so 6.2.2 is a very stable and solid release. As for security patches you are correct I don't know of any fork but I am SURE someone on GitHub will work and patch it. If not I can do it if a security issue comes up.

2. As for finding a replacement library I doubt that only as when we wrote this we searched for all the Spreadsheet JS components that were Open Source and this one was head and shoulders above the rest. Unless you mean moving it to its own JAR and using HT 7.0+?

[mamarin]

Hello,

1. A quick search in GitHub brought a fork of Handson that seems to be maintained: https://github.com/nzzdev/handsontable so you are right, somebody on GitHub worked on it. Let's hope that they keep maintaining it.

2. I hope there will be no need for finding a replacement library. I do not see any reason to move to HT 7.0+ for the moment, but if that was the case in the future, please separate it from the main project in its own library.

You are doing a fantastic job in the PFE project. I appreciate it very much.

Best regards,

M.A. Marin

[Melloware]

No problem and thanks for the feedback!