R: R: R: [gst-devel] Create a secure level

[David Schleef]

On Thu, May 05, 2005 at 10:25:06AM +0200, Christian Fredrik Kalager Schaller wrote:
> Hi Dave,
> I re-read the LGPL after seeing your mail and I don't see how the LGPL
> forbids you to require an exact/specified version of the library/code in
> question. Which paragraph do you think makes this in violation of the
> license?

Section 6a and b:

    a) Accompany the work with the complete corresponding
    machine-readable source code for the Library including whatever
    changes were used in the work (which must be distributed under
    Sections 1 and 2 above); and, if the work is an executable linked
    with the Library, with the complete machine-readable "work that
    uses the Library", as object code and/or source code, so that the
    user can modify the Library and then relink to produce a modified
    executable containing the modified Library.  (It is understood
    that the user who changes the contents of definitions files in the
    Library will not necessarily be able to recompile the application
    to use the modified definitions.)

    b) Use a suitable shared library mechanism for linking with the
    Library.  A suitable mechanism is one that (1) uses at run time a
    copy of the library already present on the user's computer system,
    rather than copying library functions into the executable, and (2)
    will operate properly with a modified version of the library, if
    the user installs one, as long as the modified version is
    interface-compatible with the version that the work was made with.

This is the section that gives someone the ability to link a
closed-source app with a shared LGPL library.  (There are more
onerous rules for static libraries.)  It's pretty clear -- if
the app doesn't work with a modified library, you have not satisfied
either of these paragraphs.



dave...

-- 
David Schleef
Big Kitten LLC (http://www.bigkitten.com/) -- data acquisition on Linux