Denis Oliver Kropp <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > If so, could you tell us the operation flow and > > how much money we have to pay for it if necessary. > > As Clemens already answered, in principle LGPL means that > you can link against the library without the need to open > your own source code. Whether it's static or dynamic makes > a difference as Clemens wrote, but I wouldn't insist on > releasing object files if anyone links statically against > DirectFB :-)
i really don't want to nitpick here, but this clause is in the LGPL to protect the enduser from being locked into a specific version of DirectFB. i find it quite important. but i also know that on the one hand, it is maybe hard or even not possible to exchange software on an embedded device and on the other, most software is linked dynamicly anyway. i think this is already going to be considered in the development process of GPL version 3. > If you write your own modules for DirectFB, e.g. input or > graphics drivers, you can do that closed source, too. > > But if you make changes to the DirectFB library source > itself you'd have to give back those changes to the community. this is not 100% correct and many people suffer from this misunderstanding. ;-) the GPL does not require any changes of the source to be made public or even be sent back upstream. it just requires, that whoever receives the binary of a (L)GPL program also (can) get(s) the sourcecode from the very same person in the same way he got the binary. (reading the clause with the written permissen to request the source later, is left as an exercise.) now, that means, if somebody changes directfb, puts it in the firmware of a setopbox in addition to the (changed) directfb.tar.gz, it fulfills the requirements of the (L)GPL. one should always keep in mind that the GPL is an end-user-protection license in contrast to commericial end-user-restriction licenses. the developer of a software program is already protected by copyright law. when releasing something under GPL you don't give away your own rights you just grant others a particular set of rights that nobody can take away. best regards ... clemens _______________________________________________ directfb-dev mailing list [email protected] http://mail.directfb.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/directfb-dev
