---
title: LGPL
slug: Glossary/LGPL
tags:
  - Glossary
  - License
  - OpenPractices
  - Remixing
  - Sharing
---
LGPL (GNU Lesser General Public License) is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation. The LGPL provides a more permissive alternative for the strictly {{Glossary("copyleft")}} {{Glossary("GPL")}}. While any derivative work using a GPL-licensed program must be released under the same terms (free to use, share, study, and modify), the LGPL only requires the LGPL-licensed component of the derivative program to continue using the LGPL, not the whole program. LGPL is usually used to license shared components such as libraries (`.dll`, `.so`, `.jar`, etc.).

## See also

- {{interwiki("wikipedia", "GNU Lesser General Public License", "GNU LGPL")}} on Wikipedia
- [LGPL License](https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html) text on gnu.org
