Re: [Mingw-cross-env-list] What gets compiled into DLL by libtool (licencing issues)

[Volker Grabsch]

John W. Eaton schrieb:
> On 02/24/2014 08:03 PM, Tony Theodore wrote:
> >
> >On 25 Feb 2014, at 05:35, John W. Eaton <address@hidden> wrote:
> >
> >>On 02/24/2014 11:57 AM, Jonathan Hogg wrote:
> >>
> >>>However, as the software itself is proprietary, we cannot (so far as I'm
> >>>aware) redistribute LGPL code if its been compiled into the same DLL.
> >>>While some fo the above packages have a suitable linking exception, so
> >>>far as I'm aware, the pthreads and quadmath libraries don't.
> >>
> >>What leads you to believe that the method of linking (dynamic vs. static) 
> >>changes the requirements of the (L)GPL?
> >
> >One is considered a "work that uses the library", the other a derivate:
> >
> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Lesser_General_Public_License#Differences_from_the_GPL
> 
> As I understand it, the important thing is not that linking uses
> shared libraries, but that it is possible to replace the components
> that are covered by the LGPL with newer/different versions.  There
> are other ways to accomplish that than using shared libraries.

That's true, but for shared libraries, this is given more or
less automatically. With static linking, you have more
obligations, such as to oblige yourself to re-link the code
for anyone, anytime to any other (even non-official) library
version. Or you have to provide the full source code.

So strictly speaking, this is _not_ about static versus
dynamic linking. But providing a dynamically linked version
(at least as an option in addition to a statically linked
version) makes life a lot easier when LGPL is involved.


Regards,
Volker

-- 
Volker Grabsch
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