I am not subscribed to debian-legal
Glenn Maynard wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 18, 2004 at 10:01:05PM -0700, John H. Robinson, IV wrote:
>
> I'm saying that a package built with ecc (or icc or whatever) is not
> the same package that you'll get if you build the same sources with
> gcc; it's significantly functionally different.
The only difference is in *performance*. If there are other differences,
then there is a bug in one of the two compilers. If you are equating
performance with functionality, then we are going to have a very hard
time communicating.
> Huh? You ignored what I said: you can't make a stable update using a
> different compiler, because it can introduce both performance and (more
> importantly) new bugs, which is completely unacceptable for a Debian
> stable security update.
Actually, later in my previous message I accepted your agrument on
pragmatic grounds.
> Are you claiming that changing from one compiler to another, or changing
> optimization flags, can't introduce bugs? If so, please stay away from
> any security-sensitive packages ... :)
I'm saying that it should not introduce bugs. In a perfect world, of
course. We don't live in one.
> > gcc is written under the GPL. I can write a non-free program, keep the
> > source entirely secret, and distribute my program in binary form only,
> > with a very restrictive license. The gcc license does not contaminate
> > the resultant binary (unless, of course, I put gcc code in my program).
> > Similarly, the ecc license should not prevent compiling GPL'd code. If
> > it did, ecc would be unsuitable for any purpose, period.
>
> This doesn't seem relevant.
You are the one that brought up the bogus argument that if the icc
packaged one were introduced into main, that any end-user would have to
accept the icc license.
This is almost akin to saying that if a package were built on a vmware
virtual machine, the end-user would have to accept the vmware license,
or that the package would have to go into contrib.
--
John H. Robinson, IV [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http ((((
WARNING: I cannot be held responsible for the above, sbih.org ( )(:[
as apparently my cats have learned how to type. spiders.html ((((
