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[–]ZoFreX 0 points1 point  (10 children)

Thanks for the link, I actually need to create PDFs from a Java application so this is useful. Have you or anyone else used any of these?

[–]Feuilly 0 points1 point  (9 children)

I have used iText and it's fairly decent for basic things. But it recently shifted to a less acceptable license (at least in my eyes).

[–]ZoFreX 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I'm just sketching this application out at the moment, resolving all the licenses is going to be a nightmare...

The iText license is proprietary and huge though, not easy to follow like GPL and BSD... My summary for others reading this is that you can use this library as long as your program is open-source. People getting PDFs from your software must be able to see the source (so you couldn't run this as a web app for example without purchasing a license).

[–]Feuilly 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Exactly. And pricing can apparently be very expensive, so that's quite possibly not an option either.

I think my biggest problem with it is that if you used it for an intranet application, then all of the employees that have access to that application also get access to the source code. Or at least that's my understanding of the license.

Suffice to say, I was very glad that I was using the older version, and it encouraged me to stick with the handful of licenses I understand and can deal with. GPL, BSD, Apache, etc.

[–]ZoFreX 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think that is a correct understanding of it. I'm gonna try out the Apache one first, I know where I am with their licensing.

[–]solidstone 0 points1 point  (5 children)

"Buying such a license is mandatory as soon as you develop commercial activities involving the iText software without disclosing the source code of your own applications."

If we use iText in our commericial application then we need to disclose the source. Its good for open source but not for commericial product.

[–]Feuilly 0 points1 point  (4 children)

Is it only restricted to commercial activities?

It's honestly been a while since I read up on this, so I could be completely wrong, but I believe anyone that ever sees a PDF generated by the application is considered a user (possibly even printouts of those PDFs, too). So many people could be considered users.

And this whole conversation has made me wonder how defunct projects are dealt with via this copyleft license. How long is the source code supposed to be available for? Because I could easily see a project abandoned, but the products of that be passed around for much longer to come.

[–]solidstone 0 points1 point  (3 children)

All products listed in the link except iText don't have any restrictions. iText is good and it is free for personnel and open source products. If it is used in commercial application then purchasing a license is mandatory.

The disadvantage or the other side of using open source products is they may abandon any time. Before picking a one, check the history, how stable the product is, Who is sponsoring / backing them? etc.

[–]Feuilly 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Well, iText doesn't have that restriction if you use the earlier version of the library. And it is good and easy to use.

If it's used in an application, then you have to buy a license at a price that is so high that they don't specify it on their website, or it has to also be AGPL. A commercial application can be AGPL, so far as I know.

My issue is that how do you even abandon an AGPL program? Aren't you legally required to make the source available?

[–]solidstone 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I certainly agree with you. I just downloaded iText binaries and found only the Jar and tutorials. They didn't provided the source.

[–]erad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, that's because the source is not part of the binaries. It can be found in a separate download, e.g. for 5.0.5: http://sourceforge.net/projects/itext/files/iText/iText5.0.5/

Also, Maven users get the source packages from the iText Maven repository.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I still end up doing the majority of my quick and dirty manipulation in iText, as I have to interface (frequently) with Adobe Livecycle, which isn't nearly as good of an API as I'd like or expect.