[copyleft-next] exceptions/additional-permissions & weak copyleft

Bradley M. Kuhn bkuhn at ebb.org
Fri Aug 3 14:50:56 UTC 2012


Luis Villa wrote at 22:35 (EDT) on Thursday:
> In the case of LGPL and other less-than-broadest copylefts, the
> explicit policy intent of the licensor is to allow the licensee to
> "avoid sharing software with others" under at least some
> circumstances.

This is a valid point, but I reiterate that I don't hear criticisms from
the other side that say: "if you could clarify this point in this way,
it'd be clearer that you allow what you say you want to allow".  Such
feedback is helpful, but such feedback is sadly rarely given.

I long ago noticed that most developers have in their head a belief of
what any LGPL (v2 or v2.1 or v3) means to allow and to prohibit.  Sadly,
that view in their heads rarely matches the text of the license.  I've
often begged developers to spend time reading LGPL to figure out if it
matches their reality and give feedback so it can someday be changed to
make it match their reality.

But, again, I want to hear this from *community developers* who pick
LGPL.  What people on the other side say doesn't matter much to me,
because their goal is to brow-beat developers to eviscerate weak
copyleft too.  Sometimes, even, developers fall for this and are
browbeat into believing no one will ever touch their software if it's
not Apache-licensed. 
 
> I don't think LGPL v3 does this, unfortunately - as I said, it's quite
> hard to follow and integrate, and that reduces the effectiveness of
> its policy goal of allowing some proprietary software in certain
> circumstances.

I don't think LGPLv3 is a perfect weak copyleft by any means.  It's a
heck of a lot better than LGPLv2.1, so it's progress.  The main reason
I'm participating in copyleft-next is I *do* think Fontana's ideas to
make copyleft drafts more digestible by community developers are
essential and valuable and should be encouraged and supported.
-- 
   -- bkuhn


More information about the copyleft-next mailing list