Re: Inclusion of extension relying on commercial only libraries?

On 8/28/10 10:08 AM, Gustavo Lopes wrote: > On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:00:45 +0100, Rasmus Lerdorf <rasmus@lerdorf.com> > wrote: > >> On 8/28/10 9:57 AM, Gustavo Lopes wrote: >>> On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:46:49 +0100, Ferenc Kovacs <info@tyrael.hu> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> On Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 5:48 PM, Gustavo Lopes >>>> <glopes@nebm.ist.utl.pt>wrote: >>>> >>>>> +1; I don't see any rationale for "strongly discouraging" LGPL >>>>> v2 >>>>> libraries and prohibiting LGPL v3 ones, yet accepting commercial >>>>> libraries. >>>>> >>>>> >>>> If you don't see rationale, then you should vote for -1. >>>> >>> >>> Whether or not I agree with declining wrappers for LGPL libraries (I >>> don't), that's the current policy. >>> >>> I think accepting wrappers for commercial libraries doesn't make sense >>> given the LGPL policy, hence I vote +1. >> >> There is no LGPL policy. LGPLv2 is perfectly fine. > > Well, -1 then. But the text on > http://pecl.php.net/account-request.php > that reads: > > "extensions for LGPL libraries are strongly discouraged." > > ought to be changed. > >> LGPLv3 is a bit iffy just because it is one of the most complicated >> licenses ever created. > > > Can you explain (or point to some resource that explains) why LGPL v3 is > problematic? I guess the simplest thing to point you at is this chart: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#AllCompatibility Note the "No" in the bottom left corner which indicates that you can't link an LGPLv3 library into a GPLv2-only program. The other thing that adds complexity is that unlike LGPLv2 in v3 they have added this clause: This version of the GNU Lesser General Public License incorporates the terms and conditions of version 3 of the GNU General Public License, supplemented by the additional permissions listed below. That means that it pulls in the terms and conditions in GPLv3 to begin with. Then it loosens things a bit with the permissions it then lists. That actually means it is quite a bit more restrictive when it comes to releasing a combined work. -Rasmus