[libmicrohttpd] License incompatibility with embedded targets

[Øyvind Harboe]

Is there any interest in relicensing libmicrohttpd to be compatible
with the eCos license?

The problem with LGPL is that it is incompatible with the
static linking that e.g. eCos and embedded applications
use in general.

The problem is with the "bug fixing clause" in LGPL where
it is impossible to update libmicrohttpd in a statically linked
binary.

eCos uses a GPL + exception license where static linking
with proprietary code is possible.

As it happens LGPL isn't a trainwrecker for us using it
with eCos as we do not distribute binaries or we're
using it with GPL code (OpenOCD), but it would be
nice to have libmicrohttpd + jim tcl as an alternative to
the athttpd and httpd web servers that are compatible
with eCos licenses.

To relicense would of course need the approval of
all copyright holders, but AFAICS this that's not
too late(a good dozen contributors so far...)

The other road for eCos is to use dynamic loading, but
that's really a clumsy solution for deeply embedded
targets.... at that point there are http servers with
suitable license, even if they aren't quite libmicrohttpd
in terms of quality and developer following...

-- 
Øyvind Harboe
http://www.zylin.com/zy1000.html
ARM7 ARM9 ARM11 XScale Cortex
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