GPL ,LGPL ,and our application

GPL ,LGPL ,and our application

[lixi_avansys]

hello,

    we want to make a product using Coldfire5272 with uclinux, but we meet a license problem. 
    
    according to GPL/LGPL we need to open our application source code if the application program are static linked with uc-libc.

    I want to know how to avoid to open application source code , otherwise the others can clone our product without any problem . Some other company using uclinux in their product may face same problem before so I want to know how them handle this? 



                                                thanks a lot!


                                                    windstone

Re: GPL ,LGPL ,and our application

[Tim Riker]

This is the wrong list for this question. I've copied the uClibc list on
my reply that would be a better place to ask.

As noted in the COPYING.LIB:

http://uclibc.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/uClibc/COPYING.LIB?rev=HEAD&content-type=text/vnd.viewcvs-markup

uClibc is under the LGPL which states:

  5. A program that contains no derivative of any portion of the
Library, but is designed to work with the Library by being compiled or
linked with it, is called a "work that uses the Library".  Such a
work, in isolation, is not a derivative work of the Library, and
therefore falls outside the scope of this License.

So your application can link to uClibc and not be required to be open
source. This would not be true if the GPL license was used, but is true
under the LGPL.

lixi_avansys wrote:
> 
> hello,
> 
>     we want to make a product using Coldfire5272 with uclinux, but we meet a license problem.
> 
>     according to GPL/LGPL we need to open our application source code if the application program are static linked with uc-libc.
> 
>     I want to know how to avoid to open application source code , otherwise the others can clone our product without any problem . Some other company using uclinux in their product may face same problem before so I want to know how them handle this?
> 
>                                                 thanks a lot!
> 
>                                                     windstone
> ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿòâ?ìLL7b±Ë¬²*'?¨¥Sx%SËa¶Úÿÿùb²ÛÿSwëi×swú+fùsSYsYùb²Ø§~?åS{±þk]

-- 
Tim Riker - http://rikers.org/ - TimR@Debian.org
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Re: [uClibc]Re: GPL ,LGPL ,and our application

[Erik Andersen]

On Thu Sep 05, 2002 at 10:34:50PM -0600, Tim Riker wrote:
> This is the wrong list for this question. I've copied the uClibc list on
> my reply that would be a better place to ask.
> 
> As noted in the COPYING.LIB:
> 
> http://uclibc.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/uClibc/COPYING.LIB?rev=HEAD&content-type=text/vnd.viewcvs-markup
> 
> uClibc is under the LGPL which states:

Indeed, thanks Tim.  And if people bothered to read the uClibc
FAQ (wishful thinking I know), which is available from 
    http://www.uclibc.org/FAQ.html 
this concern is specifically addressed.  I'll quote the FAQ entry
here for the sake of further squashing this concern:


 If I use uClibc, do I have to release all my source code to the
 world for free? I want to create a closed source commercial
 application and I want to protect my intellectual property.  
 
     No, you do not need to give away your source code just
     because you use uClibc and/or run on Linux. uClibc is
     licensed under the LGPL, just like GNU libc. Using shared
     libraries makes complying with the license easy. If you are
     using uClibc as a shared library, then your closed source
     application is 100% legal.  Please consider sharing some of
     the money you make with us! :-)

     If you are statically linking your closed source application
     with uClibc, then you must take additional steps to comply
     with the uClibc license. You may sell your statically linked
     application as usual, but you must also make your
     application available to your customers as an object file
     which can later be re-linked against updated versions of
     uClibc. This will (in theory) allow your customers to apply
     uClibc bug fixes to your application. You do not need to
     make the application object file available to everyone, just
     to those you gave the fully linked application. 

 -Erik

--
Erik B. Andersen             http://codepoet-consulting.com/
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