ubuntu-phone team mailing list archive

[Jeremy Bell <bell.jeremy@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Ted for your more clear answer. This is most unfortunate. I would
have thought that, if any mobile OS would be LGPL friendly, it would be
Ubuntu. Unfortunately if it is truly BYOD, it is once again impossible for
apps to comply with the LGPL license of third party libraries.

Is there any possibility of the Ubuntu team rethinking their position on
this? Large swaths of third party libraries are licensed under the LGPL and
would quite effectively be excluded from use in Ubuntu mobile apps, where
the same libraries would be perfectly fine in desktop apps. Why exclude
them from mobile and not desktop? I don't see any difference between mobile
and desktop apps beyond layout/UX needs, which have nothing at all to do
with shared library dependencies.

I realize that BYOD is the new norm in app packaging everywhere, and that
the LGPL is incompatible with this environment, but there are quite a few
useful, mature LGPL licensed libraries out there. But, assuming you don't
change your mind, would you at least be willing to include the mono runtime
in the "base image" you mentioned? This would allow easy porting of, for
example, various MonoGame games that currently run on various platforms,
from iOS, Android, Windows 8, etc..

Regards,
Jeremy


On Tue, May 14, 2013 at 8:51 AM, Ted Gould <ted@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> **
>
> We expect that applications that need sophisticated dependency schemes
> will include those dependencies in their own packages.  There will be a
> base image that everyone can depend on, but beyond that, you'll need to
> BYOD (bring your own dependency).
>
> There'll be a difference between packages that are part of core Ubuntu
> (the archives) and those that are distributed via the Software Center.
> Applications in the archive will continue to have the rich dependencies.
>
> All of this is under the title of "Click Packages" and is being discussed
> at vUDS in a few hours:
> http://summit.ubuntu.com/uds-1305/meeting/21760/foundations-1305-click-package/
>
> Ted
>
>
> On Tue, 2013-05-14 at 08:45 -0400, Jeremy Bell wrote:
>
> I tried asking this question on the forums and the IRC channel, but
> haven't been able to find someone with the right answer.
>
> I am researching whether it would be possible to distribute a shared
> library/runtime package on the Ubuntu software center for distribution on
> the phone and tablet versions of ubuntu. And additionally, whether mobile
> apps distributed through the software center can take dependencies on these
> shared library/runtime packages, such that they are automatically installed
> when the user installs the app.
>
> I assumed so, as desktop apps can do this, and it appeared to be the
> intent to share the same ecosystem with the desktop app center.
>
> For example, this would allow distribution of apps using alternate
> languages and runtimes, such as ruby, python, or Mono/.net with platform
> bindings. In my case, I am interested in using Mono, which is licensed
> under LGPL, and so the shared library approach would be the only way to
> distribute my app without it falling under the category of "derivative
> work" in the license. Note that in the case of Mono, the mono executable
> may be needed in addition to the shared libraries to run the app.
>
> So this boils down to three questions:
> 1) can developers distribute shared library/runtime packages as is done on
> the desktop, e.g. the mono package on the desktop.
> 2) can apps take dependencies on these packages and have them auto
> installed?
> 3) once installed, can users overwrite shared libraries installed on their
> device with their own versions? It's ok I think if they have to unlock
> their phones first or tether them to a pc, etc... This is required for
> compliance with the gpl/lgpl.
>
> Thanks!
> Jeremy
>
>
>
>
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>


-- 
Jeremy Bell
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