The library is released under LGPL, not GPL.
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Can I use a LGPL licensed library in a commercial application?
This is a question about LGPL, the lesser/library GPL. The following information may or may not be relevant...
I am designing a commercial C# application (in Visual Studio 2005) that runs on Windows XP and connects to a FreeBSD server running the PostgreSQL database server.
FreeBSD and PostgreSQL are both released under the BSD license so I am free to use them in my commercial product.
I need to use ODBC so that my C# application can talk to the database. The official windows ODBC library for PostgreSQL (pgsqlODBC) is released under the LPGL.
I've tried reading the LPGL but legal-speak makes my head hurt! My question is, what are the legal ramifications of using the pgsqlODBC library in my commercial application? I don't want to modify the library, I just want to use it in my application to give me connectivity to the database. As far as I can tell at the least I will have to include the source code for the pgsqlODBC library and display the copyright notice. Is that all? What about my own closed-source application code?
Thanks,
Patrick
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Answers
Yes - I realize that.
Perhaps I was a little ambiguous here; The LGPL allows you to link to libraries released under it from a program external to the libraries themselves.
So yes - you can use the pgSQL ODBC in your applications, and you don't have to send the source along. You just can't copy the code directly out of the pgSQL ODBC and drop that directly into your program. You may call it, though.
I hope that is more clear.
Caydel
Thanks Caydel.
The bit that I'm concerned about is Section 5, which reads:
---
A program that contains no derivative of any portion of the Library, but is designed to work with the Library by being compiled or linked with it, is called a "work that uses the Library". Such a work, in isolation, is not a derivative work of the Library, and therefore falls outside the scope of this License.
However, linking a "work that uses the Library" with the Library creates an executable that is a derivative of the Library (because it contains portions of the Library), rather than a "work that uses the library". The executable is therefore covered by this License. Section 6 states terms for distribution of such executables.
---
As far as I can tell that means my compiled executable will have to comply with Section 6, don't you agree?
Ok, I will try one more time:
If you were to take the source code directly out of the library, place it in one of your own source files, and compile it into your program, then you will have to comply with Section 6. IE, if you take the library source, and then extend it within your own program.
If you link to an already-compiled binary version of the library, resident outside of your own executable, then you fall under the first paragraph of Section 5.
I hope I make sense this time.
Caydel
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by: CaydelPosted on 2005-11-30 at 09:27:03ID: 15389912
As far as I know, you may link to the pgsqkODBC from within your program as an external library. This is legal, as you are not using the code within your program itself for commercial purposes, only linking to it.
Note the following, from http://www.gnu.org/license
If a library is released under the GPL (not the LGPL), does that mean that any program which uses it has to be under the GPL?
Yes, because the program as it is actually run includes the library.
Good Luck!
Caydel