[lwip-users] Re: [lwip] DHCP for lwIP

[Adam Dunkels]

Hi!

On Wednesday 10 October 2001 17:38, you wrote:
> > The uDHCP client is GPL software which means that
> > there may be some licensing
> > issues if I include it in the main lwIP tree. I will
>
> The licensing issue is (as far as I am aware): All
> code linked with GPL'd source is considered a derrived
> work and thus also falls under terms of the GPL.  This
> would effectively block anyone wishing to link
> proprietary code with lwIP.

I have done some reading up on the GNU site and come to the conclusion that 
this is not entirely true. Even though all code that is linked and 
distributed with GPL code is a derived work of the GPL code and hence must 
comply with the terms of the GPL, it does not change the licensing of the 
other code. What I am saying is that the lwIP code will still be BSD-licensed 
no matter what GPL code it is considered to be a derived work of.

What this means is that it will be OK for me to distribute GPL code in the 
main lwIP distribution since the lwIP license is open enough for the GPL. Had 
lwIP been licensed under the BSD-license that included the advertising 
clause, this hadn't been possible since no additional restrictions must be 
placed on GPL'd code (or derived works).

It will still be possible to link proprietary code with lwIP, since it will 
retain its license. It will however *not* be possible to link proprietary 
code with the GPL part of the lwIP distribution (the DHCP code) without 
opening up all code in the system. This will have to be clearly stated on 
both the homepage and in the distribution so that people can choose not to 
include the udhcp package in proprietary systems.

/adam
-- 
Adam Dunkels <address@hidden>
http://www.sics.se/~adam
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