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W. Trevor King 92b2fa9728 Remove 'library-usage'
The last meaningful change to this tag was c4c48d49 (Change nonstatic
to library usage, 2013-07-10), but I'm not sure where that discussion
happened.  In any case, that commit changed some "must" wording to
"may" wording, which seems like it should move the label from required
to permitted.  However, a library-usage permission would also apply to
many other licenses (e.g. folks are free to link MIT-licensed work
from a proprietary program), and adding library-usage to almost all
the licenses seems like the wrong way to make this distinction [1].

The limitations that the LGPL and OSL place on disclose-source scoping
are already covered in the disclose-source description, so the
library-usage label doesn't seem to be adding anything meaningful.
The OSL gets at this distinction by tightly scoping derivative works
[2], and the LGPL talks about combined works as a special subset of
derivative works [3,4].  The MPL makes a similar distinction between
"Covered Software" and "Larger Work" [5], and the EPL makes a similar
distinction between "derivative works" and "the Program" [6].  Whether
the location of those distinctions, or the requirements placed on
combined works can be neatly summarized in a boolean label remains to
be seen, but we're pretty sure that library-usage is not that label
[7].

Subsequent commits may replace the caveat in the disclose-source
description with wording in the license description themselves or by
adding a new label that summarizes the issue.  Until then, the
disclose-source description more clearly covers the information that
library-usage was intended to convey, so this commit removes the
less-clear label to avoid redundancy.

[1]: https://github.com/github/choosealicense.com/pull/343#issuecomment-179532710
[2]: http://rosenlaw.com/OSL3.0-explained.htm#_Toc187293087
[3]: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.html
[4]: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html
[5]: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/MPL/2.0/
[6]: http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
[7]: https://github.com/github/choosealicense.com/pull/343#issuecomment-179557468
2016-02-04 11:38:05 -08:00

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---
title: GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0
nickname: GNU LGPL v3.0
tab-slug: lgpl-v3
redirect_from: /licenses/lgpl-v3/
family: LGPL
source: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-3.0.txt
description: Version 3 of the LGPL is an additional set of permissions to the <a href="/licenses/gpl-3.0">GPL v3 license</a> that requires that derived works be licensed under the same license, but works that only link to it do not fall under this restriction.
how: This license is an additional set of permissions to the <a href="/licenses/gpl-3.0">GPL v3</a> license. Follow the instructions to apply the GPL v3. Then either paste this text to the bottom of the created file OR add a separate file (typically named COPYING.lesser or LICENSE.lesser) in the root of your source code and copy the text.
note: The Free Software Foundation recommends taking the additional step of adding a boilerplate notice to the top of each file. The boilerplate can be found at the end of the <a href="/licenses/gpl-3.0">GPL v3 license</a>. Insert the word “Lesser” before “General” in all three places in the boilerplate notice to make sure that you refer to the LGPL v3 and not the GPL v3.
required:
- include-copyright
- disclose-source
permitted:
- commercial-use
- modifications
- distribution
- patent-use
- private-use
forbidden:
- no-liability
hidden: false
---
GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 3, 29 June 2007
Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <http://fsf.org/>
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
This version of the GNU Lesser General Public License incorporates
the terms and conditions of version 3 of the GNU General Public
License, supplemented by the additional permissions listed below.
0. Additional Definitions.
As used herein, "this License" refers to version 3 of the GNU Lesser
General Public License, and the "GNU GPL" refers to version 3 of the GNU
General Public License.
"The Library" refers to a covered work governed by this License,
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Defining a subclass of a class defined by the Library is deemed a mode
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A "Combined Work" is a work produced by combining or linking an
Application with the Library. The particular version of the Library
with which the Combined Work was made is also called the "Linked
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The "Minimal Corresponding Source" for a Combined Work means the
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object code and/or source code for the Application, including any data
and utility programs needed for reproducing the Combined Work from the
Application, but excluding the System Libraries of the Combined Work.
1. Exception to Section 3 of the GNU GPL.
You may convey a covered work under sections 3 and 4 of this License
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2. Conveying Modified Versions.
If you modify a copy of the Library, and, in your modifications, a
facility refers to a function or data to be supplied by an Application
that uses the facility (other than as an argument passed when the
facility is invoked), then you may convey a copy of the modified
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ensure that, in the event an Application does not supply the
function or data, the facility still operates, and performs
whatever part of its purpose remains meaningful, or
b) under the GNU GPL, with none of the additional permissions of
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3. Object Code Incorporating Material from Library Header Files.
The object code form of an Application may incorporate material from
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4. Combined Works.
You may convey a Combined Work under terms of your choice that,
taken together, effectively do not restrict modification of the
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License, and the Corresponding Application Code in a form
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manner specified by section 6 of the GNU GPL for conveying
Corresponding Source.
1) Use a suitable shared library mechanism for linking with the
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you use option 4d0, the Installation Information must accompany
the Minimal Corresponding Source and Corresponding Application
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Information in the manner specified by section 6 of the GNU GPL
for conveying Corresponding Source.)
5. Combined Libraries.
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Library side by side in a single library together with other library
facilities that are not Applications and are not covered by this
License, and convey such a combined library under terms of your
choice, if you do both of the following:
a) Accompany the combined library with a copy of the same work based
on the Library, uncombined with any other library facilities,
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