License Committee Report for July 2007

[Wilson, Andrew]

Chris DiBona wrote: 

> LGPLv3
> 1) http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-3.0.html
> 2) LGPL
> 3) previous versions of the lgpl, bsd and likely others.

Chris, as you know, the actual compatibility matrix for LGPL is really
much more complicated.  LPGLv3 is compatible with GPLv3, with
LGPLv2-or-later and
GPLv2-or-later, BSD, and can even be linked to proprietary code,
but it is not compatible with LGPLv2-only or GPLv2-only (unless it's
GPLv2 with the runtime or classpath exceptions).

This is (IMO) a really hokey situation, where LGPLv3 is compatible with
non-free SW
but not with free SW under GPLv2/LGPLv2.  The compatibility muddle is
irrelevant for purposes
of deciding whether LGPLv3 meets the OSD, but it certainly makes me want
to reach for the ibuprofen.

Andy Wilson
Intel open source technology center