MyGUI license questions

cfn

02-02-2013 13:51:05

I am somewhat confused by the license of MyGUI. It is licensed under the terms of the LGPL with some exceptions. The unmodified LGPL requires that the source code of the library that was used to create the binaries linked to the software using the library is made available to anyone who gets a copy of the software. Additionally the LGPL requires that anyone who gets a copy of the software must be able to replace the library with a modified version and my reverse engineer the software using the library to debug his modified library. The licensing page in the docs now states that static linking, subclassing and inlining of parts of MyGUI does not create a "derived work". Sadly the term "derived work" is not defined anywhere in the GPL, LGPL oder MyGUI license texts. I assume these exceptions shall prevent software using MyGUI from being forced to be licensed under the LGPL automatically. But they contradict respectively do not liberate the author of a software using MyGUI from allowing reverse engineering and making it possible to replace the library.

What I assume is intended with license is to allow using unmodified MyGUI copies without any further restrictions in other software but force any modified versions to be licensed under a strong open source license. But this is not what the actual license terms are. A license providing this would be the GPL with the so called runtime exception. For example the c++ standard library of the g++ compiler uses this license.

I'd highly appreciate if the author could clarify what the license should allow and eventually change it accordingly.

Cheers,
David

Altren

04-02-2013 11:21:29

We are going to release next version under MIT license, so if will be possible to do everything you do with Ogre's sources. And I hope that MIT doesn't require additional clarifications.

cfn

04-02-2013 11:36:48

Well, that makes things a lot easier. The MIT license is clear and simple. Thanks for the quick response.