Is Parallels violating the Wine LGPL? | BabyGotMac - Mac stuff that gets you sprung!

BabyGotMac Sponsors:  iPhone and iPod Touch Applications now available in the iTunes App Store 

Submit News Archives Search Contact

Popular Tags: 1password apple appstore iphone ipod jailbreak links news software youtube

Amazon.com Widgets

Is Parallels violating the Wine LGPL?

Greetings, friend! Looks like this is your first time here. As such, we encourage you to subscribe to our site via RSS feed or by email so you can get updates as they happen. Thanks for stopping by!

According to this page on the Wine Wiki, Parallels may be violating the LGPL by using Wine created code and not properly releasing changes, as per the license.

Parallels Desktop for Mac(www.parallels.com) contains Wine’s Direct3D code according to http://www.parallels.com/en/licensing/. So far(June 29th, 2007) attempts to ask them for the modified source code failed. This page is meant for keeping track of this, without starting legal action or a publicity campaign.

If this is true, what effect might this have on the thousands upon thousands of users who’ve paid for Parallels, or for the future of the software itself?

[E.] Modified link and references to LGPL, as opposed to GPL.

Local and Technorati Tags:

Related Links from the Web

Related Links on BabyGotMac

Viewing 12 Comments

cainum 07/02/2007 02:01 AM 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

The issue is not Parallels violating the code. They have stated in their license CLEARLY that they are using LGPL code. This is not in question. The issue is that they are not releasing the code as the LGPL mandates. This is the problem. If anyone bothered to read the source material on wiki.winehq.org/parallels they would know this.

reply edit reblog flag

bob 07/02/2007 12:55 AM 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

The problem is that Parallels DID NOT RELEASE the LGPL code. This is the issue. So they are violating the LGPL anyway by not releasing the code on request. This is the problem. Not that they are using LGPLed code. quoted item in the OP

reply edit reblog flag

whatever 07/01/2007 12:03 PM 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

Licenses are only as good as your ability to enforce them. Who's going to foot the 100K + legal bill to force them to release if necessary?

So you take them to court and get them to release the code back. Very unlikely you'd recover any 'damages' or legal fees for you efforts.

Yawn.

reply edit reblog flag

forget parallels 07/01/2007 02:24 AM 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

vmware fusion is better

reply edit reblog flag

http://eeng.net

Mahmoud 07/01/2007 02:19 AM 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

WINE is licensed under LGPL
http://www.winehq.org/site/license

reply edit reblog flag

Dean 07/01/2007 02:12 AM 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

You can use the LGPL code but if you make changes to the library code you must release the changes to that code.

They've improved the library code and the wine community would like for those changes to come back.

GPL only libraries would make your whole program GPL... thats why LGPL is used for libraries.

reply edit reblog flag

robbyt 06/30/2007 11:22 PM 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

the LGPL is not the same thing as the GPL.

wine is GPL, not LGPL.

read the licenses, then talk, mac fans.

reply edit reblog flag

http://robbyt.com

Bloodbob 06/30/2007 11:14 PM 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

Umm for the fools who think you don't have to release the source code for the LIBRARY. Reread the LGPL you don't have to give out the source code for your entire program only the parts covered by the LGPL.

reply edit reblog flag

themacmeister 06/30/2007 10:18 PM 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

Now this just s*x..

I thought Parallel was doing well, and has no need to hold back the source, unless of course it is based more on Cedega code than Wine(X)??

reply edit reblog flag

Waldo 06/30/2007 09:43 PM 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

*IF* this is true-- and if Parallel's desktop is including GPL'd code, then this would mean that Parallels software gets opened or (likely) Parallel's gets sued and loses and opens the code anyway.

*OR* maybe they strip out the offending code and release an update w/o it.

*OR* if this relates to LGPL'd code then maybe parallels releases just the code to the libraries they added to.

W

reply edit reblog flag

Achille 06/30/2007 09:39 PM 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

Of course they are not violating the GPL.
Are you kidding me? Did you bother reading the text of the LGPL?
The license clearly state you don't have to release the source code, all you have to do is say that YOU ARE USING LGPL'd CODE.

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Lesser_General...

reply edit reblog flag

Sergio 06/30/2007 09:25 PM 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

Either way it won't do anything to the users that purchased the product. If, eventually, a free version of parallels derive of shared source code (which I believe it when I see it) then, and only then, Parallels sales will hurt.

reply edit reblog flag

Trackbacks

blog comments powered by Disqus

Subscribe to BabyGotMac

Join the other 566 subscribers to our RSS feed!

Join the conversation by following us on Twitter - @Tweet us now!

Recent Posts

·MyWeather Offers Full-Screen Animated Radar for iPhone
·Internet’s First Music Festival to be Launched by College Radio Network
·AroundMe 1.0 for iPhone
·Secret of the Lost Cavern
·How to put your iPhone into ‘recovery mode’
·JABMenu, a System-Wide Address Book Menu
·Survey finds integration of Macs a priority for many corporations
·Boinx Software acquires PhotoPresenter
·Babelingo 1.2 for iPhone and iPod Touch
·NetSketch 1.2 is now available for the iPhone

Related Links

1Password is All You Need

Stuff we like

·Apple@Amazon
·Parallels
·1Password
·McDev
·Obama/Biden
·You!
·SMorg

© 2007-2008 BabyGotMac.com

Social Bookmark
E-mail

By choosing one of the links below, you can send this story to your favorite site, with some information being pre-filled.

Powered by ShareThis