FSF "Why you shouldn't use the Library GPL for your next library"

Posted Dec 11, 2008 23:10 UTC (Thu) by dwheeler (guest, #1216)
In reply to: Free Software Foundation files suit against Cisco for GPL violations by salimma
Parent article: Free Software Foundation files suit against Cisco for GPL violations

It's not a "de-emphasis" on the LGPL. The FSF specifically recommends that Free software developers use the GPL and not the LGPL, for libraries, as described in "Why you shouldn't use the Library GPL for your next library". If you think about their goals, it makes sense why they'd recommend that. Not everyone agrees with their goals, of course.

Having said that, the FSF is more pragmatic than some give them credit for. In many cases, even if you completely support the FSF's goal, the GPL is not the best license for a library, and the FSF admits this. They developed and maintain the LGPL specifically because they'd rather get half a loaf than none. Heck, Stallman encouraged the Ogg Vorbis library's move to permissive (BSD-style) licensing, because he perceives the codec patent threats to be a bigger threat than any copyright threat. Projects like GNOME _specifically_ require that all their "core" libraries to be LGPL-compatible.