[Haskell-cafe] LGPL and Haskell (Was: Re: ANNOUNCE: tie-knot library)

Clark Gaebel cgaebel at uwaterloo.ca
Wed Dec 12 17:00:25 CET 2012


Since we've already heard from the aggressive (L)GPL side of this "debate",
I think it's time for someone to provide the opposite opinion.

I write code to help users. However, as a library designer, my users are
programmers just like me. Writing my Haskell libraries with restrictions
like the (L)GPL means my users need to jump through hoops to use my
software, and I personally find that unacceptable. Therefore, I gravitate
more towards BSD3 and "beer-ware" type licenses. This also means my users
aren't subjected to my religious views just because they want to use my
"ones and zeros".

Also, with GHC's aggressive inlining, even if you do have a static linking
exception in your (L)GPL license, it still may not hold up! Although the
entire idea is untested in court, GHC can (and will!) inline potentially
huge parts of statically linked libraries into your code, and this would
force you to break the license terms if you were to distribute the software
without source code. In Haskell-land, the GPL is the ultimate in viral
licensing, and very hard to escape.

That's why I don't use (L)GPL licenses.

Just making sure both sides have a horse in this race :)
  - Clark


On Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 9:51 AM, kudah <kudahkukarek at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, 12 Dec 2012 10:06:23 +0100 Petr P <petr.mvd at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > 2012/12/12 David Thomas <davidleothomas at gmail.com>
> >
> > Yet another solution would be
> > what David Thomas suggest: To provide the source code to your users,
> > but don't allow them to use the code for anything but relinking the
> > program with a different version of the library (no distribution, no
> > modification etc.).
>
> You can also provide object code for linking, though I'm sure this
> will not work with Haskell object files. Providing alternative
> distribution of your program linked dynamically, or a promise to
> provide one on notice, also satisfies the LGPL as long as
> dynamic-version is as functional as the static and can be dropped-in
> as a replacement.
>
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