The devil is in the details

After a recent discussion about licenses in relation to a new Confluence plugin, I thought a quick post to the developer blog on the subject might be useful.
Because Confluence and Jira and not themselves GPL’d, you should not release your plugins under the GPL. The GPL is incompatible with being plugged into non-OS products, unless it is a completely independent application. Confluence and Jira plugins would not fit that category.
Instead, please consider a license such as the LPGL, the Apache license or the BSD license. Those licenses allow unlimited distribution without any viral clauses.
(Technically, you can include a specific exception in your GPL license as described here, but that’s a little more problematic.)
We’re always grateful when users are able to contribute their work back to the community. Hopefully this will clear up a few details about to do so. If you have any questions about how to share your plugins, get in touch.