GPL and LGPL question

[Seth David Schoen]

Bruce Perens writes:

> From: "Pat St. Jean" <psj at cgmlarson.com>
> 
> > Also, how does OSD part 3 protect the author of the code from what I
> > think (and this IS just MY _OPINION_) are malicious clauses in other
> > licenses, specifically the LGPL, clause 3.  A case can also be made that
> > LGPL clause 3 is in conflict with OSD part 7, depending on which legal
> > dictionary you're reading.
> 
> It's not obvious what you are seeing here. Tell me how you come to these
> conclusions, please.

LGPL 3:

	You may opt to apply the terms of the ordinary GNU General Public
	License instead of this License to a given copy of the Library.  To do
	this, you must alter all the notices that refer to this License, so
	that they refer to the ordinary GNU General Public License, version 2,
	instead of to this License.  (If a newer version than version 2 of the
	ordinary GNU General Public License has appeared, then you can specify
	that version instead if you wish.)  Do not make any other change in
	these notices.

	Once this change is made in a given copy, it is irreversible for
	that copy, so the ordinary GNU General Public License applies to all
	subsequent copies and derivative works made from that copy.

	This option is useful when you wish to copy part of the code of
	the Library into a program that is not a library.

OSD 7:

	The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the
	program is redistributed without the need for execution of an
	additional license by those parties.

While the rationale for OSD 7 makes clear that it wasn't _intended_ to
forbid something like LGPL 3, that clause in the LGPL still does provide
a means for a distributor to narrow -- permanently -- the rights
associated with a particular copy of a program, which means that some
people to whom the program is redistributed might not receive all of the
rights that were originally attached to it.

The "execution of an additional license" doesn't come into this question
at all, but the "all to whom the program is redistributed" does.

Perhaps OSD 7 should say "the rights guaranteed by the Open Source
Definition" instead of "the rights attached to the program".

-- 
                    Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org>
      They said look at the light we're giving you,  /  And the darkness
      that we're saving you from.   -- Dar Williams, "The Great Unknown"
  http://ishmael.geecs.org/~sigma/  (personal)  http://www.loyalty.org/  (CAF)