jbuck@galileo.berkeley.edu (Joe Buck) (02/08/91)
Followups are directed to gnu.misc.discuss; let's not take over comp.dsp with this discussion. In article <10761@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> jbuck@galileo.berkeley.edu (Joe Buck) writes: > >Since it's also Richard Stallman's opinion that FSF has no more rights > >to code compiled with gcc (or assembled with gas) than to text edited > >by Emacs, you're clearly on safe ground. However, if you link with > >Gnu libraries it's another story. In article <1991Feb5.154259.27045@agate.berkeley.edu>, doug@eris.berkeley.edu (Doug Merritt) writes: > I take it that Stallman believes that if you link with Gnu libraries, > then the entire s/w is then under the Gnu copyright? Radical. Well, yes, it's radical; he's trying to construct a new world where you can get the source to every program you have. But it isn't the copyright that does this; it's the Gnu license. Basically, with any software license, you are only permitted to use the software under conditions of the license. The question then comes up: what happens if you violate the licensing conditions? The text says your source code becomes freely redistributable; a court might not accept that and just make you pay a heavy damage assessment instead. Still, you can't violate software licenses with impunity. Actually, you have two options for code that includes or is derived from Gnu code: make the source freely redistributable, or do not distribute the program at all (you can keep it for your own use). But the new library license relaxes the conditions; when it becomes effective, you can use gnu libraries and have your program be proprietary as long as you meet certain conditions (THERE IS NO FINAL DRAFT YET but, roughly, you send your .o files, a Makefile, and the source+objects to whatever Gnu library you use, and you may not prohibit your users from using a debugger or doing reverse engineering to try to improve the program). Just to be clear on the original discussion: Stallman and FSF make no claims to gcc output (or, for that matter, to g++ output except that libg++ is their code -- replace libg++ and the code is entirely yours). -- Joe Buck jbuck@galileo.berkeley.edu {uunet,ucbvax}!galileo.berkeley.edu!jbuck