On 20 Sep 2011, at 07:11, Andy Tai wrote:

> come on... gtkmm is LGPL...
> 

Interesting....  I just checked this on the gtkmm web site and discovered that 
it's actually released under the "GNU Library General Public License".  After 
further reading it seems that inclusion of the word "Library" indicates that 
this is an old version of what later morphed into the "Lesser General Public 
License" or "LGPL".  Technically though, it's neither GPL nor LGPL in the 
modern sense.  Clause 5 of the "Library" General Public License states:-

" linking a "work that uses the Library" with the Library creates an executable 
that is a derivative of the Library"

[...]

" if the work is a derivative of the Library, you may distribute the object 
code for the work under the terms of Section 6. Any executables containing that 
work also fall under Section 6, whether or not they are linked directly with 
the Library itself. "

However, sections 6 and 2 seem to state the you need only distribute the source 
code for any changes you made to the library.  For example if your executable 
uses classes derived from gtkmm, you must release those classes (and any 
modifications that were needed to gtkmm) as a new library in its own right.  
However, those parts of the executable which make no use of gtkmm do not need 
to be released.

So it's probably closer to the LGPL than to the GPL but you might still need to 
release parts of your source code.

John

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