Re: [TSVN] To GPL or not to GPL

Bill.Hughes@cgi-europe.com wrote:
> Has anybody considered using the LGPL instead of either the GPL or Apache
> license?
> This would seem to remove some of the concerns over the terms of the GPL
> while keeping others happy. Possibly a good compromise license?

There are 4 main concerns over GPL.

1. GPL is incompatible with most other open source licenses. We can use
their code, but they can't use ours without GPLing the whole project.

2. GPL scares a lot of businesses away from both using and contributing
to TSVN. Legal departments don't like the 3 magic letters 'G', 'P' and 'L'.

3. GPL doesn't stop people stealing your code illegally, nor does it
stop them commercializing it legally - they still have to distribute
source, but only to their customers, not back to us.

4. GPL'ed code can be used anywhere and doesn't require you to say where
it came from. Other open source licenses do.

LGPL fixes point 1, but not 2, 3 or 4. Actually, 3 is not a reason *not*
to use GPL, it just explains that GPL is not as bomb proof as is
sometimes thought.

And the Free Software Foundation don't really like you using LGPL
either, which is (presumably) why they renamed it from Library GPL to
Lesser GPL.

Simon

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