Hi!
I thought I should chime in on this one, even though JoeLX seems to be
happy.
As I understand it, ALL of GCC3.0 is published under the GPL, which is
viral. The GNU Lesser General Public License is one usually used for
libraries, which is far less viral.
However, GCC3.0 has a special exception for the GCC library. I haven't
looked at what this is precisely, but I know that its intention is to
allow the production of proprietary software with the compiler system.
I cannot tell you what the distribution requirements for that library
are, as I have not yet read the exception in the license.
BTW M$, AFIK, does not use GPLed code in any of its operations. It uses
BSD licensed code, which, by not having the contagious elements of the
GPL, lets this sort of thing go on.
I hope that this has cleared a couple of things up. But the short
answer is AFIK you can distribute code made with GCC3.0 under any
license that you feel like; although, if the libraries are under the
LGPL as has been suggested (I can't find any reference to this, just an
"exception") then there are a few minor restrictions that you must be
aware of.
Regards,
Nathan Callahan
On Thursday, June 21, 2001, at 02:45 PM, JoeLX wrote:
> Thanks Tom
> Thanks Craig
>
> The reason for my question was because I saw some software, having
> developed
> using GCC, were distributed as proprietary and some are labeled as
> commercial.
>
> I guess these developers should give many thanks and appreciation to the
> developers of GCC and should contribute to Free Software cause... unlike
> MS.... Hotmail, Interix etc... use GPL but never admit it nor
> appreciate it,
> rather it chose to bash and bash and bash...
>
> Stupid people never learn.
>
> OK, thank again sirs! Have a good day!
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Joe
> RLU# 186063
> "Reading is the essence of knowledge"
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------
> Cut & Paste: Tom Badran [[EMAIL PROTECTED]]:
>
> Anything you create under gcc you are free to distribute under any
> terms you
> wish. The libraries are released under the lgpl which means you can
> dynamically (and possibly statically) link to them with no requirements
> on
> your part. Basically, unless you use anyhting more than libc and glibc
> you
> dont have to release your software under the gpl
>
> --
> Imperial College, Department Of Computing
> email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel: 020 785 22277
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2001 07:42 PM
>> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Subject: Re: [expert] GCC 3.0 - Question on GPL
>>
>>
>> Shahrimi Johann wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> just a question.
>>> GCC is a GPL, open source software and it comes with libraries
>> that will be
>>> used in the programs that are created using them.
>>
>> I'm no expert on the GPL, but, as I understand it, it only becomes
>> viral
>> when you use source from another GPL'd program. It doesn't much matter
>> if you compile it with gcc, cc or any other compiler.
>>
>> Libraries are a little different, and fall under the LGPL, and I'm not
>> very familiar with that at all.
>>
>> Just my .02.
>>
>> --
>> Craig Sprout
>> Network Administrator
>> Crown Parts and Machine, Inc.
>> http://www.crownpartsandmachine.com/
>>
>>
>
>
