LGPL Question

Unmindfulawe · 04-24-2007, 11:49 AM

I downloaded the SWiSH Max free trial to see if it would run in wine. It turns out that it does run in wine. But when I went to the folder that contained the program files I noticed that it contained the LGPL license. I'm fairly clueless in regards to all of the legalities of the LGPL. Is this company legally obligated to release the source code when it is released under the LGPL? Thanks for your input.

Nathanael · 04-24-2007, 12:08 PM

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html

AdaHacker · 04-24-2007, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unmindfulawe

Is this company legally obligated to release the source code when it is released under the LGPL?

It depends on what is covered by the LGPL and how they're using it. If they are linking to an LGPLed library but have not incorporated the code directly into their program, then the complete program itself does not fall under the LGPL and they are under no obligation to release the source. However, they would be required to provide the source to the LGPLed library.