LGPL or BSD-Style License for Media Codecs?

Josh Coalson asks: "I am the author of FLAC, an open-source lossless audio codec. The core of the project is a reference encoder/decoder library currently licensed under the LGPL. As the format grows more popular I am being been approached by third parties about implementation in proprietary hardware systems. This is natural and I don't have anything against it, but several people are voicing concerns that the LGPL is too strict for use in embedded systems. I want the codec to remain Free, but then again, wide adoption of a format makes it more useful to all users."

"More specifically, the nature of many embedded systems force them to be bound by the stringent requirements of Section 6 the LGPL. In some cases, dynamic linkage is not possible, ruling out 6(b), or causing the terms of the FLAC library to come into conflict with other proprietary libraries. In other cases, it simply is not possible to provide an environment, according to 6(a), where the user can re-link with a different copy of the library.

What are my options? I could stick to my guns, which might limit the adoption of the format, or change the license. I know Vorbis uses the BSD license, but I feel strongly about modifications that are useful for others going back into the free code base. Perhaps there is another middle-ground license that could preserve the Freedom of the code in these cases? Or maybe I am not interpreting the verbiage of the LGPL correctly? Can't I have my cake and eat it too?"

Comments

Oh don't worry about licensing...

[tswinzig]

If the people really like your media format, they will just use it however they like, even if its patented.

Just look at MP3.

Now for a more serious answer... Why don't you just re-license it to specific companies that you want to see use it? Maybe even for a re-licensing fee, so that you can make some money off your open source software.

use the BSD license

[TheGratefulNet]

speaking as a software developer who works on embedded systems (routers, in my case), there's just NO WAY we'd ever touch anything that wasn't BSD. in all the jobs I've had that used any form of unix in our product, it either was BSD style licensing or it was ignored by us.

the legal issues are just not worth messing with. case in point - we've had to go out of our way to NOT use libreadline since its so 'hardline' on being GPL. it would be great to be able to use it, but we fear having to release our own code just due to the overzealousness of GPL when it comes to touching our own proprietary code.

I can say for sure, if you care about getting your code in shipping commercial products, consider BSD licensing. be aware that there's nothing forcing a company to pay or even ask you if they can use it, then. otoh, even when we were willing to compensate the readline author, he didn't want to consider any other licensing scheme, so we 'walked away' and had to find another lib to solve our problem.

GPL is a total mess when it comes to a commercial company that wants to ship a product without fear of being told it has to release ALL its code (even its local home-grown code).

I'm a major linux fan. I like the idea of opensource. but I also have to work for a living and that means writing software that will be owned by the company and never ever given out. there IS a balance - and GPL ain't it.