Using LGPL library in Paid Android App

android lgpl
Kamran picture Kamran · Feb 6, 2011 · Viewed 11.1k times · Source

Can I use a LGPL library in my paid android application? I am not going to modify the LGPL lib, I just want to use it. Is it legal?

Answer

greywolf82 picture greywolf82 · Dec 23, 2014

Using LGPL in an android free or paid app is legal, but to be compliant with the LGPL you have to:

  1. Give the user indication of the library used and where to find the original code;
  2. Configure proguard to not obfuscate the code covered by LGPL;
  3. Avoid any check in your app about signature compliance;
  4. Give to the user indication of how replace the library.

For point 4 you can indicate to use dex2jar, replace the LGPL code and re-sign the APK. It needs a lot of work for the user but it is possible to do it and allow the final user to recombine or relink the code as LGPL says. In addition, if your app uses any google services, the user need to create an account to generate the own api key and so on.

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