LGPL clarification

[Ken Arromdee]

On 1 Nov 2000, Ian Lance Taylor wrote:
> The LGPL puts restrictions on P when it is linked with L.  But so
> what?  That linking will only happen on the end user system.  The
> typical effect is that the end user is not permitted to distribute the
> executable now found in memory, because it is impossible to satisfy
> both the conditions of the vendor of P and the conditions of the LGPL.
> 
> But the LGPL puts no restrictions on the distribution of P, which is
> what the proprietary user cares about.

That is not, however, what RMS believes.  If there is only one shared library
that exists, he considers P to be derivative of it even before it is linked;
and this triggers all licensing conditions on L even if P is not distributed
with L.  Remember readline?