The license allows developers and companies to use and integrate a software component released under the LGPL into their own (even proprietary) software without being required by the terms of a strong copyleft license to release the source code of their own components.

The LGPL was revised in minor ways in the 2.1 point release, published in 1999, when it was renamed the GNU Lesser General Public License to reflect the FSF's position that not all libraries should use it.

A standalone executable that dynamically links to a library through a .so, .dll, or similar medium is generally accepted as not being a derivative work as defined by the LGPL.

Alternatively, a statically linked library is allowed if either source code or linkable object files are provided.

This feature allows for direct reuse of LGPLed code in GPLed libraries and applications.

[5] The license uses terminology which is mainly intended for applications written in the C programming language or its family.

[10] In addition, Ada has a special feature, generics, which may prompt the use of the GNAT Modified General Public License (GMGPL): it allows code to link against or instantiate GMGPL-covered units without the code itself becoming covered by the GPL.