You know what, that explains how they can exist on linux at all. Because from what I understand, if glibc was GPL and not LGPL, closed source software would basically be impossible to run on the platform. Which… maybe isn’t the best outcome when you think about it. As much as I hate the Zoom VDI bridge, I don’t want “using windows” to be the alternative.
and yeah, from the source you provided, I can see why they don’t statically link. “If you dynamically link against an LGPLed library already present on the user’s computer, you need not convey the library’s source”. So basically if they bundle glibc then they need to provide the glibc source to users on request but if they just distribute a binary linked against the system one then that’s their obligations met.
Welcome to “complying with the LGPL for the terminally lazy”, I’ll be your host “Every early linux port of a steam game!”
My understanding of the linking rules for the GPL is that they’re pretty much always broken and I’m not even sure if they’re believed to be enforceable? I’m far out of my element there. I personally use MPLv2 when I want my project to be “use as you please and, if you change this code, please give your contributions back to the main project”
You have to provide the source code for the version of the library you’re linking somewhere. So basically if you ship a static linked glibc executable, you need to provide the source code for the glibc part that you included. I think the actual ideal way to distribute it would be to not statically link it and instead deliver a shared library bundled with your application.
EDIT: Statically linking libc is also a big pain in general, for exampled you lose dlopen. It’s best not to statically link it if possible. All other libraries, go for it.
It wouldn’t; glibc is LGPL not GPL. The person you’re replying to was mistaken.
You know what, that explains how they can exist on linux at all. Because from what I understand, if glibc was GPL and not LGPL, closed source software would basically be impossible to run on the platform. Which… maybe isn’t the best outcome when you think about it. As much as I hate the Zoom VDI bridge, I don’t want “using windows” to be the alternative.
and yeah, from the source you provided, I can see why they don’t statically link. “If you dynamically link against an LGPLed library already present on the user’s computer, you need not convey the library’s source”. So basically if they bundle glibc then they need to provide the glibc source to users on request but if they just distribute a binary linked against the system one then that’s their obligations met.
Welcome to “complying with the LGPL for the terminally lazy”, I’ll be your host “Every early linux port of a steam game!”
My understanding of the linking rules for the GPL is that they’re pretty much always broken and I’m not even sure if they’re believed to be enforceable? I’m far out of my element there. I personally use MPLv2 when I want my project to be “use as you please and, if you change this code, please give your contributions back to the main project”
They missed the first character because they took the L
It should be noted that statically linking against an LGPL library does still come with some constraints. https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#LGPLStaticVsDynamic
You have to provide the source code for the version of the library you’re linking somewhere. So basically if you ship a static linked glibc executable, you need to provide the source code for the glibc part that you included. I think the actual ideal way to distribute it would be to not statically link it and instead deliver a shared library bundled with your application.
EDIT: Statically linking libc is also a big pain in general, for exampled you lose
dlopen. It’s best not to statically link it if possible. All other libraries, go for it.