[
Date Prev][
Date Next][
Thread Prev][
Thread Next][
Date Index][
Thread Index]
[
List Home]
|
Re: [udig-devel] LGPL and commercial plugins
|
On 15-Feb-06, at 4:18 PM, euan crawford wrote:
Can I build a commercial (non-LGPL) plugin for uDig? The plugin
would interact with the compiled uDig libraries but not involve any
changes to the core uDig code.
Yes, absolutely, that is the intent of our use of the LGPL, rather
than the GPL. We want people to feel free to use uDig as the basis
for proprietary work, if that is their business model. The only
place the LGPL constrains you is if you make changes to *uDig*
*itself* then you would have to publish those changes (or, more
conveniently, contribute them back to the project) when distributing
your software.
Our hope is that by providing a place of collaboration, people will
share work on the open source uDig core, while innovating at the
edges, in either an open source or proprietary way, whichever fits
their needs.
I looked at the LGPL homepage http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/
lesser.html and have included a couple of snippets that imply a
plugin could be LGPL exempt. The latter may be particularly relevant.
"A program that contains no derivative of any portion of the
Library, but is designed to work with the Library by being compiled
or linked with it, is called a "work that uses the Library". Such a
work, in isolation, is not a derivative work of the Library, and
therefore falls outside the scope of this License."
"there may be a special need to encourage the widest possible use
of a certain library, so that it becomes a de-facto standard. To
achieve this, non-free programs must be allowed to use the library"
I know that lawyers could steer this either way so I'd appreciate
any comments/advice.
yours
Euan Crawford
_________________________________________________________________
Take advantage of powerful junk e-mail filters built on patented
Microsoft® SmartScreen Technology. http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-
ca&page=byoa/prem&xAPID=1994&DI=1034&SU=http://hotmail.com/
enca&HL=Market_MSNIS_Taglines Start enjoying all the benefits of
MSN® Premium right now and get the first two months FREE*.
_______________________________________________
User-friendly Desktop Internet GIS (uDig)
http://udig.refractions.net
http://lists.refractions.net/mailman/listinfo/udig-devel
