Many libraries are LGPL ?

Question

Hi, Why are many libraries LGPL nowadays rather than GPL ? Who is enjoying the benefits ?

Thx in advans, Karthik Balaguru

Answer 1

GPL-licensed libraries cannot be linked against code that uses a license that is incompatible with the GPL. Making a library LGPL instead solves this and allows for wider adoption of the library.

Answer 2

LGPL allows developers to link to the library in proprietary and non-compatibly licensed software projects. GPL does not. Take a look at this chart for a brief summary of the differences.

Answer 3

LPGL is generally interpreted as being weak copy left, for itself(changing the code of the library) and applications statically compiled against it its copy left(have to open source code unless its only used internally), for applications that are dynamically linked its copy center(do what you will).

Answer 4

Hi, Got a very important reason for the rise in LGPL from the below link http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-not-lgpl.html

The below extract conveys few reasons/scenarios that are main reasons for the increase/rise in LGPL -

" Using the ordinary GPL is not advantageous for every library. There are reasons that can make it better to use the Lesser GPL in certain cases. The most common case is when a free library's features are readily available for proprietary software through other alternative libraries. In that case, the library cannot give free software any particular advantage, so it is better to use the Lesser GPL for that library.

This is why we used the Lesser GPL for the GNU C library. After all, there are plenty of other C libraries; using the GPL for ours would have driven proprietary software developers to use another—no problem for them, only for us.

However, when a library provides a significant unique capability, like GNU Readline, that's a horse of a different color. The Readline library implements input editing and history for interactive programs, and that's a facility not generally available elsewhere. Releasing it under the GPL and limiting its use to free programs gives our community a real boost. At least one application program is free software today specifically because that was necessary for using Readline."

Hence, I think that this is one of the major reasons for LGPL being used in certain cases !!

Karthik Balaguru

Answer 5

From one of my projects - not a library - that uses the LGPL:

why the LGPL?

The GPL is specifically designed to reduce the usefulness of GPL-licensed code to closed-source, proprietary software. The BSD license (and similar) don't mandate code-sharing if the BSD-licensed code is modified by licensees. The LGPL achieves the best of both worlds: an LGPL-licensed library can be incorporated within closed-source proprietary code, and yet those using an LGPL-licensed library are required to release source code to that library if they change it.