glib dependency for the X Server

[Greg Stark]

Eric Anholt <eric at anholt.net> writes:

> So, I intend to make the X Server link to glib, and use data structures
> from there.  While glib is a new dependency, it's not *that* large (<
> 380k on my amd64), it's LGPL (so it doesn't affect the ability to ship
> closed X Servers), and probably everybody has it installed already.  

Note that linking with an LGPL library does impose some restrictions that
would be fairly onerous for a package like X. For example, a closed X server
would have to include linkable objects that would allow a user to relink the X
server with an updated version of the LGPL'd library.

I'm generally a big proponent of free software and a defender of the GPL but I
think it would be a mistake for a project with an unrestrictive license like
the X11 license to start down that path. At least not without a lot of thought
on the subject.

Surely there are tons of public domain linked lists and other data structures
out there that could be included wholesale and statically linked into X?

-- 
greg