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 Maven Dependency Policies
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 Stephen Connolly
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 2011-02-01
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Maven Dependency Policies

* Scope

  This page describes the policies around the use of dependencies by the Apache 
  Maven Developers in the process of developing Apache Maven itself.

  This page does not apply to projects hosted outside of the Apache Maven 
  project.  In order to remove all doubt, this page only applies to code
  which has a Subversion URL that starts with 
  <<<https://svn.apache.org/repo/asf/maven/>>>

  If you have stumbled across this page and you are working on code that does
  not have a Subversion URL starting with 
  <<<https://svn.apache.org/repo/asf/maven/>>> then this page does not apply
  to you.
  Or git repositories starting with: https://git-wip-us.apache.org/repos/asf/maven*

* Background

  The Apache Maven PMC is tasked with ensuring (among other things) that all 
  legal issues are addressed and that each and every release is the product 
  of the community as a whole.

  The Apache Maven project consists of quite a number of components. For
  the purposes of this policy, we will make a distinction between the
  core Maven distribution and all the other components.

  The core Maven distribution is the binary and source distributions made
  available from the https://maven.apache.org/download page. 

* Applicability

  This policy applies to all changes to dependencies as and from Subversion revision 1067464.

* Core Maven Distribution Dependencies

  All dependencies which are included in the Core Maven Distribution must either:

    * be licensed under a {{{https://www.apache.org/legal/resolved.html#category-a}Category A license}}; or

    * be licensed under a {{{https://www.apache.org/legal/resolved.html#category-b}Category B license}} and
      approved by a majority vote of the Apache Maven PMC.

  Votes for Category B licenses will be held on the dev@maven.apache.org mailing list. A majority of the PMC
  must vote in favour of a Category B licensed dependency before a release can be made containing that dependency.

* Non-Core Dependencies

  Non-Core components may only use Category A or Category B licenses.