[fpc-devel] LGPL vs BSD

[Daniël Mantione]

Op Fri, 4 Aug 2006, schreef Graeme Geldenhuys:

> Hi,
> 
> I am no expert in all the different licenses available, but would like
> to understand them better.  I understand the difference between GPL
> and LGPL, but at first glance the LGPL and the BSD licenses seem to do
> the same.  The end-user may change the code and use it in free or
> commercial apps.
> 
> What is the major differences between the BSD and LGPL?

With LGPL, the LGPL part of the software remains free software, i.e. its 
source code needs to be distributed or made available on request. Of 
course, with BSD the source code usually remains available on the net as 
well.

The most practical difference is when you have modified the code, with 
LGPL this means the source code on the net is no longer the source code of 
the program you distribute, so if somebody requests the code you will have 
to make your changes public.

With BSD, no requirements exist, so you can keep your changes private.

Daniël