Don Armstrong <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > On Sun, 19 Mar 2006, Måns Rullgård wrote: >> Given only the source files, writing a makefile that will produce a >> working executable is fairly simple. I see makefiles as more of a >> convenience than a necessity to build a program. > > You could extend this argument to any segment of sourcecode in the > program.
Not at all. Every piece of source code gets compiled into some machine code (except parts that get optimized out), and so is part of the work, both before and after compilation. Exactly how the source code is transformed into machine code is irrelevant. You might use compiler A, I might use compiler B, and someone else might prefer to do it all by hand. In each case, the executable is a transformed version of the source code. In neither case does any part of a makefile (or equivalent) get included in the output. A work can't be derived from another work without including some piece of it (ignoring for the moment reuse of literary characters without any verbatim copying of text taking place). In many cases a program could be compiled with a command like find . -name '*.c' | xargs gcc If the program is large, gcc will probably run out of memory, but that makes no difference in principle. The makefile describes how the work can be done in smaller steps, nothing else. Is a printed book a derivative work of the manual for the printing press? > Since the output that you get from the compiler is dependent > on the way in which the compiler was called, just like the way in > which the source code was written determines the object code you get > out, this argument isn't terribly persuasive. The output depends on which compiler is used, and on which options were given to that compiler. This still does not change the fact that the output is a mechanical transformation of the input, and is not a derivative of anything of which the source was not already. You can certainly not be arguing that the source code is derived from the makefiles. -- Måns Rullgård [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
