On 24/12/09 10:05, Alexander Bokovikov wrote:
Hi,
On December 24, 2009 at 1:09 PM Luca Abeni wrote:
- If you configure ffmpeg as LGPL, you have to distribute the sources
of the ffmpeg libraries and some binaries of your program which allow
to build the final application (plus makefiles and/or build scripts, if
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
needed).
I'm sorry for invasion into your discussion but I'd like to ask if I'm
understanding LGPL correctly or not. AFAIU, "final application" in the
quoted phrase means not a third-party application ("Application that
uses the Library", according to LGPL 2.1)
I meant "Application that uses the library", but maybe "build" is not
the correct term. "Obtain" or something similar would be more correct.
(see below)
For example, I'm writing a closed-source EXE which uses a DLL,
built using the LGPL-ed code. In this case I must:
- Provide the source code for LGPL-ed stuff, which DLL uses;
- Provide the source code of the DLL itself, as it is also falls under
LGPL;
- Declare in my application the fact, that it uses LGPL-ed stuff
- Provide a link to download the source code for DLL and the used stuff.
These four steps make it possible to rebuild the LGPL'ed DLL
independently from the closed-sourced application. The application
itself may be provided in the binary form only, because (and as long as)
it does not include any portion of the LGPL-ed code.
In this case, the application can probably be distributed in binary form
only, you are right. The requirement is that if I recompile the DLL and
the LGPLed library from the sources you provide, then the binary
application you distribute must be able to use the version of the
library I recompiled.
If you use static linking instead of DLLs, AFAIK you can distribute some
.o (or .a) files that linked with the LGPLed library allow to obtain
your application, plus the makefiles and scripts needed for linking.
(so, again, you do not need to distribute the source code of your
application - this is, AFAIK, the main difference between LGPL and GPL).
Finally, note that here I try to give a "simplified description" of the
license (maybe not 100% from the formal point of view, but in my opinion
it explains the spirit of the license).
Luca
_______________________________________________
libav-user mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.mplayerhq.hu/mailman/listinfo/libav-user
