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Re: Which license am I looking for?



In message <[🔎] 20090118174305.620e0088.frx@firenze.linux.it>, Francesco Poli <frx@firenze.linux.it> writes
On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 01:49:35PM +0100, Mark Weyer wrote:
> - Copyleft with source requirement, but should not contaminate other
>   software.
[...]
Maybe I should have been less terse.
- With "source requirement" I meant that source code of derived works must
  be made available.

This is, IMO, one of the key features of a copyleft license.

  I think this rules out BSD and MIT licenses.

I agree.

- "no contamination of other sofware" was meant to imply, that if someone
  uses (a derived version of) my software as part of hers, she does not
  have to put her entire work under my license.

I think the opposite of this is another key feature of a copyleft
license!

So if I use a little bit of copyleft code in my program I have to make the whole lot free?

And I think RMS is a bit on my side - after all he did write the LGPL...

E.g.: the GNU GPL imposes that works incorporating a GPL'ed work (or a
derivative of a GPL'ed work) may only be distributed under the terms of
the GNU GPL itself.
The only exception is the case of "mere aggregation": see the license
text for more details.

Hence, I think your desiderata are somewhat inconsistent.

  I have always understood this to rule out all versions of GPL. On a
  quick glance I cannot find the relevant part of GLPv3, though.

If I understand your desiderata correctly, yes, I think all versions of
the GNU GPL are ruled out.

Actually, iiuc, no they are not. It sounds like the LGPL 2 would satisfy your requirements. And while there is no LGPL 3 (and I don't think there will be), the GPL 3 has optional relaxation clauses, one of which makes it a replacement for the LGPL.

Basically, the LGPL requires that any code that is *strongly* linked to yours is affected by your licence, but if the person using your code keeps it as a self-contained library, they can link that library into their code without their main code being affected - just any modifications to the library are affected.

Cheers,
Wol
--
Anthony W. Youngman - anthony@thewolery.demon.co.uk


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