Re: Library General Public Licence

Jim Brown <jimbrown32rb@yahoo.com> writes:
> I wrote a proprietary MS-Windows application (I can
> just hear the groans... sorry) that I hope to sell. It
> uses a backend database, and I like the option of
> using PostgreSQL for that. I need to know clearly what
> I need to do to distribute the psqlODBC driver with my
> app.

I'm not a lawyer either, but my reading of the LGPL says that you
can distribute an LGPL library along with a proprietary application
that uses the library so long as you

(1) include the source code of the library (or offer to provide it
on request, but if you're sending out CDs you might as well just
put the source code on to begin with).

(2) provide the proprietary app in a form that can be re-linked with
a user-modified version of the library, ie, .o files or equivalent.

Basically what the LGPL is saying is that someone should be able to
change the source code of the library and still use it with your app.

(1) is certainly no skin off your nose except for a few more MB on
the distribution media.  (2) might annoy you, especially if you have
illusions of being able to prevent reverse-engineering of your
executables.  My impression of common practice is that no one actually
pays much attention to requirement (2), but it's there in black and white
in the LGPL text.  If you want to keep yourself perfectly clean and
aboveboard you should honor it.

            regards, tom lane