Re: LLGPL Clarification
John Foderaro <[email protected]> Thu, 30 May 2002 07:25:53 -0700
| Newsgroups | gmane.lisp.open-source.franz |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
[The following my opinion only. I'm not a lawyer. I'm a programmer] The idea of a 'header file' is something used in only a few languages. C has header files. Lisp does *not* have header files. Because Lisp does not have header files the text in section 5 of the LGPL doesn't apply to Lisp. Why is all this fuss made about header files? In a C program the header files can have significant value all by themselves, outside of their use to compile or use the Library. The LGPL wants to add a bit of protection for those header files. Yes, C header files can have macros in them and yes Lisp has something called a macro as well but Lisp macros are much closer to Lisp functions than C macros are to C functions. Lisp macros in a Lisp library can be a signficant part of the value of the Lisp library. It would go completely against the nature of Lisp to tell people that they can't export powerful Lisp macros an LLGPL'ed library since that will make any code that uses those macros a derivative work.