[erlang-questions] lib/syntax_tools uses LGPL-2.0 + license

[Richard Carlsson]

To make it clear, even if an older version is used which only states the
LGPL license, it does not affect the rest of the OTP distribution. This is
exactly the point with LGPL as opposed to GPL. Erlang is just like Java
when it comes to linkage, so see this page from the FSF for more info:
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-java.en.html But in the upcoming OTP 20,
you can simply refer to the Apache License instead. Meanwhile, if you're
still scared, you can download the standalone version of syntax_tools from
GitHub and use that instead of the version that you got from OTP, since it
already has the LGPL/Apache dual license notices:
https://github.com/richcarl/syntax_tools

The main thing that you can't do with an LGPL library even if you don't
modify its the source code, is to package up the resulting system in a way
that prevents your customers from doing their own modifications to that
library. (I.e., update to a newer version, fix a bug, etc.) Your own code
can be as inaccessible as you like.



        /Richard

2017-02-10 9:02 GMT+01:00 Kenneth Lundin <kenneth@REDACTED>:

> Hi,
>
> The license of Syntax tools is changed to Apache-2 and LGPL (it is the
> users choice) in the master branch (which is the way to
> the next major release (OTP 20) in end of June.
>
> And yes you can leave out syntax tools for most usage. It is mostly used
> during development for some non mandatory tools.
> For example it is used by edoc the tool for generating documentation from
> the source code.
>
> It is unlikely to be used in a deployed server.
>
> /Kenneth, Erlang/OTP Ericsson
>
> On Thu, Feb 9, 2017 at 10:25 PM, chris casilli <
> christopher.casilli@REDACTED> wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I noticed that lib/syntax_tools uses LGPL-2.0+ license.
>> How does this effect the overall Apache-2.0 license of OTP.
>>
>> Can this component be left out. Is a different version available that
>> uses Apache-2.0 license.
>>
>> Kind Regards,
>>
>> Chris Casilli
>>
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