[Phpmyadmin-devel] legal concerns about external libraries

[Marc Delisle]

Michal Čihař a écrit :
> Hi
> 
> Dne Wed, 3 Aug 2011 15:48:12 +0200
> Dieter Adriaenssens <dieter.adriaenssens at gmail.com> napsal(a):
> 
>> I wouldn't drop Excel (97/2003 or 2007) export just like that, unless
>> nobody seems to use it of course. ;)

We also use this library for Excel 97/2003 or 2007 import.

>> F.e. : It's very useful to export data from a database using a query
>> to an excel-sheet to use for further analysis (or other uses).
>> Since both Excel 2003 and 2007 (and other versions) are still widely
>> used, I don't think that any of them can be dropped.
>> It's true that CSV-export can be used for that, but it would mean an
>> extra step to convert to Excel.
> 
> You can open CSV files with Excel without any extra step, I think it
> will ask you to change format when you try to save it.
> 
>> I had a brief look at the PHPExcel library yesterday and I think it
>> will be possible to remove a lot from the library that we don't use,
>> including the OLE part (which would solve the license problem). OLE is
>> used to link objects (like an excel sheet or a graph) to other
>> documents/applications, but we don't use that when exporting to Excel
>> format.
> 
> Stripping down the library would be option as well.
> 
> 
>> True, but the phpMyAdmin package has to be installed by someone
>> anyway. It could be part of the installation procedure to install the
>> PHPExcel library somewhere.
> 
> pear installation should be easy enough.

I had not noticed that PHPExcel is available as a PEAR package! (from 
http://phpexcel.codeplex.com/releases/view/45412). We would have some 
testing to do to ensure all goes smoothly with an unbundled PHPExcel 
library.

> 
>> But then again, this might cause compatibility problems with future
>> releases of both phpMyAdmin and PHPExcel.
> 
> Indeed, thought requiring exact version should be possible.



-- 
Marc Delisle
http://infomarc.info