Why does the project use the LGPL license?

We chose GPLv2 for SITER for three simple reasons:

1. Keep improvements public

SITER is an infrastructure tool — an intermediate representation for transpilers and language runtimes. If someone improves SITER, those improvements should benefit everyone, not just one company.

2. Prevent proprietary forks

With a permissive license (MIT, Apache), a closed-source project could take SITER, modify it, and distribute the result without sharing any changes. GPLv2 prevents this.

3. Ecosystem compatibility

GPLv2 is widely used in the compiler and systems programming world:

• Linux kernel
• GCC (parts)
• Git
• Many bootstrapping tools

Using GPLv2 makes SITER compatible with this ecosystem.

Why not GPLv3?

GPLv3 adds anti-tivoization and patent clauses that are less relevant for SITER’s use case and can scare away contributors. GPLv2 strikes the right balance.

Summary

SITER exists to be a free IR. LGPL ensures it stays that way — not just for us, but for everyone who uses it.