# LGPL Question

- Thread: https://externals.io/message/115441
- Original archive: https://news-web.php.net/php.internals/115441
- Started by Jordan LeDoux on 2021-07-16T16:03:54+00:00
- Messages: 2
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## #115441 — Jordan LeDoux — 2021-07-16T16:03:54+00:00

URL: https://externals.io/message/115441#115441

I'm fairly certain that it is compatible, however I wanted to double check.
Can LGPLv3 sources be included with the PHP source or is the PHP License
incompatible?

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## #115474 — Nikita Popov — 2021-07-19T07:40:45+00:00

URL: https://externals.io/message/115441#115474 · In reply to: #115441

On Fri, Jul 16, 2021 at 6:04 PM Jordan LeDoux <jordan.ledoux@gmail.com>
wrote:

> I'm fairly certain that it is compatible, however I wanted to double check.
> Can LGPLv3 sources be included with the PHP source or is the PHP License
> incompatible?
>

In principle, it is compatible. We do bundle one LGPL 2.1 library (libmbfl).

Having LGPL licensed code may affect downstream users though, e.g. someone
shipping a proprietary version of PHP will be required to build mbstring as
a shared extension, to ensure that the LGPL licensed code portion may be
substituted. For that reason, I don't think we can accept LGPL licensed
code in any required PHP components (that are always statically linked).

Generally, not having LGPL licensed code is strongly preferred.

Regards,
Nikita