2009/3/17 John Gill <[email protected]> > On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 3:49 PM, Kevin Noonan <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> >> GPL goes a step farther than LGPL. It's "viral": any code even linked >> to GPL code is coerced into a GPL license. > > > Just to clarify this. > > If you have GPL code and you use a non-GPL library with it that is fine. >
Eh? I don't think so. I remember that otherwise GPL programs that used the QT library had to have an exception clause, stating that they could be linked with the QT library. That's essentially the situation you're describing here. So it's find if you own the copyright, or can convince the copyright holder to provide such a clause. > The non-GPL library license does not need to be changed. > > However, if you have GPL library code that you link with non-GPL code, that > is not fine, your non-GPL code needs to be distributed with a license > compatible with the GPL. > > It is for this reason that the LGPL is generally used for libraries (L > stands for 'lesser' or 'library'). This license makes it explicit that you > can link the code with other code with no restrictions. However, if you > modify the library code and distributed binaries with your changes, then you > need to make your library modifications available. > It stands for Lesser - It used to stand for Library, but the FSF reasoned that they didn't want all libraries licenced under the LGPL, and that the LGPL could also apply to non-libraries. It makes it explicit, because the standard GPL prohibits it. > > One final thing, I don't believe the 'linking' thing has ever been tested > in a court. In particular, 'linking' for a language like python is a bit > of a grey area. > Earlier versions of the MySQL client library were LGPL, but MySQL AB reasoned that if you use a MySQL Server then you were linking to it through the network. Having that said, that was just the opinion of one company, and not of a judge. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Python Ireland" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.ie/group/pythonireland?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
