[ros-dev] RE: Collection of wine tools on windows

[Rolf Kalbermatter]

"Casper Hornstrup" <ch at csh-consult.dk> wrote:

>Yes, but then you need to publish the sources for the non-free
application under the LGPL.
>When using headers to build your application, you create a derived work
of those headers.
>
>http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/lgpl.html
>
>"A "work based on the Library" means either the Library or any
derivative work under copyright
>law: that is to say, a work containing the Library or a portion of it,
either verbatim or with
>modifications and/or translated straightforwardly into another
language. (Hereinafter, translation
>is included without limitation in the term "modification".)"
>
>"4. You may copy and distribute the Library (or a portion or derivative
of it, under Section 2) in
>object code or executable form under the terms of Sections 1 and 2
above provided that you accompany
>it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which
must be distributed under
>the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for
software interchange."

This is rubish. LGPL is understood by most in such a way, that you can
use a library in a closed
source application as long as you do not make that library a static
dependency in your app, meaning
that the user could replace that LGPLed library with a newer, compatible
version of his and your
app still works. Shared libs (or DLLs) clearly are not a static
dependency. You are obliged to
provide to users of your closed source app and other interested parties
the (possibly modified)
sources of the LGPL library only, either directly on the media where you
distribute your app with
or under reasonable terms on request.
A download link to Wine seems a very reasonable term to me as long as
you didn't make modifications
to it, or took care to at least provide a patch with those modifications
to the project in question.

With public headers for a library, it could be argued that they do not
really provide any code
(in most cases) and therefore are even less protectable in the interest
of portability and
interoperation compatibility.

If it wouldn't be that way nobody could possibly write a closed source
application to run under
Linux as the kernel and it's headers are under the even more
"restrictive" GPL license and every
app has to link to the OS kernel (and use the appropriate headers) in
some ways to be operable.

Rolf Kalbermatter