Friday, August 31, 2007

Switched to LGPLv3

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) recently published version 3 of the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPLv3). This update to the popular non-viral Open Source license covers patent usage, implied but not explicit in previous versions. It also blocks "tivoization" which is described in the FSF release announcement.

Today I switched the Open Source license for the CroftSoft Code Library over to the LGPLv3 since I think preventing tivoization is a good idea. I can foresee that in the near future it will become more common to have code running in devices within or permanently attached to our bodies, especially as neuroprosthetics technology advances. Having the option to modify this code seems like it should be a basic right.