[lwip-users] RE:... ¿GPL or BSD?

[Zschocke, Florian]

For some reason I have to write emails to this list twice. :(

Sergio PérezAlcañiz wrote on Donnerstag, 13. März 2003 09:26:

> Where FOO is the code you did.
> 
> So, your statement is not true if you add this exception part
> to your code.(I did). 

Okay, so you would suggest to place all the files that make up lwIP under
the GPL and allow linking them with proprietary systems while not extending
the GPL on the proprietary code?

> Ok, you're true. When I wrote that I was not thinking in giving
> changes back to the original author. I was thinking just more
> in the GPL phylosophy than in particular cases. What I was
> trying to say is that, as improvements must keep the GPL
> license, it's assured that the code belongs to the comunity.
> Obviously, if you write GPL code and you don't publish it
> nobody would know about that code, isn't it?? 

But look at it from the practical side. I would use the lwIP code to link it
with a larger software. That software is not shipped seperately, it only
comes with a hardware. You cannot buy the software. To get the software you
have to buy the hardware. Will you be spending a few $10,000 in order to get
the software? The usual customer is only interested in his systems working,
not if he is entitled to get the sources of a minor part of the software
driving his system. Nor is he interested in passing on the system he bought
to others for free. 

So since this is the required way for somebody having the right to get the
changes I made, in the end it comes down to me giving back changes to the
community voluntarily. That is the same as if the code was under the BSD
license. I still think that in the case of lwIP the BSD license fits better.


Florian.