License Committee Report for September 2009

[Giancarlo Niccolai]

In data lunedì 16 novembre 2009 21:37:30, Bruce Perens ha scritto:
: > Giancarlo Niccolai wrote:
> > OTOH, I invite you to list the programming languages (or more
> > specifically, the embeddable programming languages) which are distributed
> > as straight LGPL or GPL with no exceptions or no dual licensing.
> 
> In this day of runtime shared libraries, LGPL should not be an issue.

Consider, for example, the case of a commercial product made of one script:

   printl( "Hello from commercial product" )

and the Falcon engine, plus a launch script. We want this bundle to be 
distributable under the commercial entity most favored choice. If it wants to 
distribute it GPL or LGPL, then ok. If he wants to close all and distribute it 
under its terms, then OK too. Just, in this second case, he has to tell 
somewhere he's using Falcon to display this string, or we're not friend 
anymore.

If the language was LGPL, it CANNOT distribute the whole bundle under another 
license. It has to distribute the engine as LGPL, and then it can use it from 
a licensed-whatsoever closed source software. But, in some cases, it may be a 
bit impractical to do, and impractical means "looking for simpler solutions 
elsewhere".

> Guile, of course, is straight LGPL. No doubt there are others.

But encouraging this particular usage and redistribution pattern is a primary 
and explicit goal of GNU. Moreover, Guile as a "complete" project is not 
straight LGPL at all: is a quite hairy fusion of GPL and LGPL, and under 
different versions. Scary enough to keep any commercial entity at bay and away.

About the "others", well, I found none among the most prominent languages. 
About non-prominent (small-scale to personal-toy sized) languages, the choice 
seems to fall on BSD or on LGPL, but this may be well intended as a lack of 
alternatives and ... a disinterest for the legal topic, which is fully 
understandable...

<sarcastic_mode>
... considering how much flame you get when you want to provide ADDED FREEDOM 
with respect to the ones graciously granted  by the Great Ancestors.
</sarcastic_mode>

Bests,
Giancarlo Niccolai.