Apple dan LGPL webkit source code iOS 4.3.x

Entah sengaja atau tidak, Apple tidak merilis source code untuk iOS versi 4.3.x. Berikut ini adalah penjelasan tentang iOS yang saya ambil dari blog Harald Walte.

As some people may know, next to a plethora of BSD licensed code, Apple is using some LGPL licensed code in their iPhone products.

So far, it seems they have always provided the respective source code in a timely manner for each and every release they have made on a website www.opensource.apple.com.

However, in recent months it seems they have deviated from that policy for unknown reasons. As my friend and webkit developer zecke has blogged, Apple has stopped to release their webkit source code with iOS release 4.3.0. The corresponding website simply states: "coming soon".

iOS 4.3.0 was released on March 10, 4.3.1 on March 25, 4.3.2 on April 14 and 4.3.3 on May 4. For all of those releases, no source code has been published.

It cannot be a simple oversight, as multiple inquiries have been made to Apple by interested developers. However, the source code yet has to be released.

I think it is time that Apple gets their act together and becomes more straight-forward with LGPL compliance. It is not acceptable to delay the source code release for 8 weeks after shipping a LGPL licensed software. Especially not, if you have already demonstrated in the past that you are well aware of the obligations and have a process and a website to release the corresponding source code under the license conditions.

Padahal menurut lisensi LGPL, source code harus disertakan disetiap library atau program yang dibuat. Sekedar penjelasan tambahan tentang perbedaan LGPL dan GPL, pada LGPL library diijinkan untuk ada dalam program propietary atau hak milik oleh pihak tertentu. Sedangkan pada GPL library atau program yang dibuat harus ada dalam program yang bersifat gratis.

UPDATE: Apple telah merilis source code iOS