Javassit: What has to be distributed when using the pre-compiled .jar?

Question

I am using Javassist within my free open-source project (Javassist is included as pre-built .jar file which has been downloaded from the Releases section on their page, no source code). I'm now wondering if I need to include something beside the used .jar (e.g., some Javassist.license.html or similar) when publishing my project.

Javassist's homepage states the following regarding their license:

Javassist version 3.20.0-GA is available (June 25, 2015).

This version is distributed under the triple license of the MPL, the LGPL, and the Apache License. The distribution includes the jar file, the sources, some samples, the API manual, and a tutorial. The binary is also available from the central repo.

and I found the following license document on their github, yet I am no expert on software licenses.

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Long question short: Do I have to redistribute further files (license text, ...) when using a Javassist .jar?

Answer 1

The way I read:

This version is distributed under the triple license of the MPL, the LGPL, and the Apache License.

... means that I can chose anyone of these three licenses (but not all of them).

Long question short: Do I have to redistribute further files (license text, ...) when using a Javassist .jar?

In all three cases, there is some least common denominator that I need to respect. To make things simple I would redistribute the license text and any notice together with the Jar for the license I select (even though technically not all three licenses require exactly the same thing) and I would mention usage of this Jar in my documentation of about page if present.

In addition to this credit requirement, If I elect for the MPL or LGPL, I need to be able to redistribute the source code (though this is more relaxed for MPL) which would be an extra requirement that the Apache license-code does not have.

As a side note, older versions of Javassist were using choice of only two licenses: either LGPL or MPL. And the common understanding was the LGPL would apply when Javassist was used as a dependency for an LGPL-licensed library (such as JBoss or Hibernate) and that the choice of MPL or LGPL would apply otherwise. This is something I keep in mind when I use Javassist as it may guide my choice of license.