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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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Note the following, from http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#IfLibraryIsGPL :
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
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
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The bit that I'm concerned about is Section 5, which reads:
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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.
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As far as I can tell that means my compiled executable will have to comply with Section 6, don't you agree?
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A miscellany is defined as a "collection of various pieces of writing by different authors", but it has come to mean something "Of items gathered or considered together of various types or from different sources" or "a collection or group composed of members or elements of different kinds". The word "miscellaneous" comes from the Latin word "miscere", meaning "to mix." You might have heard the expression "a mixed bag," which applies when you don't quite know what you're going to get. More commonly, a miscellaneous group is made up of an odd group of things that don't fit anywhere else.