Parallels forks over LGPL goods

Open source developers have claimed victory after Parallels maker SWsoft provided them with the source code of LGPL software that it had incorporated in the latest version of its OS X virtualisation software. 

SWsoft maintains that it has complied with the Lesser General Public Licence at all times.

Parallels 3.0 for OS X uses four 'dll' files from the Wine open source project. For systems running a virtual copy of Windows on top of OS X, the technology translates Microsoft's DirectX graphics to OS X's OpenGL.

Wine is a Windows emulation technology best known for its ability to run Windows applications on Linux. The project is governed by the Lesser General Public licence, a less restrictive variant to the GPL.

Both licences require developers to disclose the use of the software and publish the source code for any adjustments that they make.

A SWsoft employee promised on a company bulletin board to publish the code in early June, but open source developers grew impatient as the company put off the publication.

Only after the issue got highlighted on Slashdot over the weekend did the firm release the source code. 

Corey Thomas, director of marketing at Parallels, blamed the situation on a difference in expectations between the firm and developers.

"There is no specific time frame in the LGPL about when you have to provide source code," Thomas told vnunet.com. "Once people got it, they were fine. It's just that they wanted it faster."

He promised that the company will be more responsive in sending out the software, but declined to post the code online.

The firm licenses a series of proprietary and open source technologies and wants to ensure that it does not publish any information that it is not entitled to release.