FSF releases new draft of LGPLv3

. . . keeping an eye on the penguin

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Apr. 03, 2007

On the heels of releasing the latest draft of the GPLv3 (General Public License version 3), the Free Software Foundation on April 3 released a new draft of the LGPLv3.

The LGPL was first released as Version 2.1 in February of 1999. It was the follow-up license to the GNU Library General Public License 2.0. Under its old name, the FSF (Free Software Foundation) felt that the license was too often used inappropriately.

The key difference between the GPL and LGPL licenses is that software or a library under the LGPL can be 'linked to' or 'used by' either a GPLed or a proprietary program. This program can then be distributed to users without worrying with the GPL's requirements that the LGPLed part of the code be freely available to other developers. The code that is not covered by the LGPL, however, doesn't need to be shared.

Brett Smith, the FSF's licensing compliance engineer explained in a note to FSF members that the new discussion draft has been released because "the license is currently written as a set of additional permissions on top of GPLv3, a number of terms have been updated to reflect changes in the GPLv3 draft released last week. Additionally, we have made a few small adjustments to clarify particular requirements."

Like the GPLv3, the LGPLv3 is not finished yet. Smith explained, "We received some very helpful comments on the previous discussion draft of LGPL, and unfortunately we were not able to come to a final decision about how to address all of those before releasing this draft. They are still under consideration, and will be handled fully in a future draft, before the final release of the license. In the meantime, we hope this new text will provide the free software community with an up-to-date base for additional feedback."

In the second LGPLv3 draft page, you'll find the latest text. Within the new version, you'll also find explanations for the changes the FSF are proposing to make to the LGPL.

-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

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Use of this site is governed by our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Except where otherwise specified, the contents of this site are copyright © 1999-2009 Ziff Davis Enterprise Holdings Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff Davis Enterprise is prohibited. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.