This page describes the IP clearance problems related to the OpenOffice address book.

The address book support of OpenOffice uses Mozilla libraries in two different areas:

  1. Mozilla XPCOM is used for communication with the address book database drivers, even those that access non-Mozilla address books.
  2. Database drivers that translate between the OpenOffice sdbc interfaces and the Mozilla family address books.

See dba project web site for an overview of the architecture of the address book database.

There does not appear to be an easy way to avoid the use of the Mozilla libraries by e.g. replacing it with another, similar library. This leaves two obvious alternatives:

  1. Drop support for address books from OpenOffice.
  2. Replace XPCOM and some drivers with custom code:
    1. Replace XPCOM by letting the drivers implement SDBC interfaces directly.
    2. Provide our own implementation of Thunderbird address book drivers.
    3. Evaluate for the other drivers (address books of Evolution, Outlook, Mac CardDav and Windows System address books) how to proceed. The Mulberry vCard Library seems a viable alternative.
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