Re: [Tinycc-devel] License is too restrictive for real-world use.

[Sean Conner]

It was thus said that the Great Nids once stated:
> > > > Please, if you want to consider tinycc being more relevant than it is, 
> > > > and
> > > > being adopted in big ways so that people can build push calls instead of
> > > > pull scripts, it just hinges on dropping the toxic lgpl and switching to
> > > > e.g. bsd.  There are so many things I want to do with tinycc but that is
> > > > not why I want to be a developer.  Not until I win the lottery, anyway.
> > >
> > > Ehm... No.
> > > 
> > > The LGPL just states that when you redistribute your product, the code of
> > > TinyCC, or its modified version, must be redistributed/made available. The
> > > same does NOT apply to the code that links against it.
> > 
> >   The other term (or restriction, depending upon your view point) is that
> > the user needs to be able to use a modified version of the LGPL library in
> > the product.  Making TCC a shared library makes this easy to do (since the
> > user can then replace the with their own modified TCC).  Using a statically
> > compiled LGPL library is a bit tougher---you have to provide all the object
> > files to relink the product with their own version of TCC (in this case).
> 
> The LGPL actually states that the modified *source code* must be made
> available and redistributed and this solves the problem of static vs
> dynamic linking at the very beginning.

  Section 4.d of the LGPL:

       0) Convey the Minimal Corresponding Source under the terms of this
       License, and the Corresponding Application Code in a form
       suitable for, and under terms that permit, the user to
       recombine or relink the Application with a modified version of
       the Linked Version to produce a modified Combined Work, in the
       manner specified by section 6 of the GNU GPL for conveying
       Corresponding Source.

       1) Use a suitable shared library mechanism for linking with the
       Library.  A suitable mechanism is one that (a) uses at run time
       a copy of the Library already present on the user's computer
       system, and (b) will operate properly with a modified version
       of the Library that is interface-compatible with the Linked
       Version.

  So the code needs to be provided upon request, and you need to let the
user use their own copy of the LGPL code.

  -spc