dtynan@altos86.Altos.COM (Dermot Tynan) (08/02/89)
I can remember a story from my childhood, which goes something like this:
"There was this man who dreamt that there were nine gold
coins on the table beside his bed. He tossed and turned,
and cried out `No, no, nine isn't enough. I want ten.'
Finally, he woke up, and realized that there weren't any
coins on the table, so he went back to sleep, thinking;
`Nine is good! I can live with that! Nine is OK.'"
For those people who want to develop software with the GNU C compiler,
but want to reserve the right to charge money for said software and
not include the source, they have two options:
1. Write your own compiler.
2. Buy a commercial compiler.
If one considers that 90% of all software compiled by GCC is for 'internal
use only' (ie, for compiling HACK), then the last 10% can be compiled with
the commercial compiler you bought with your one gold coin... I rest my
case.
- Der
--
dtynan@altos86.Altos.COM (408) 946-6700 x4237
Dermot Tynan, Altos Computer Systems, San Jose, CA 95134
"Far and few, far and few, are the lands where the Jumblies live..."grunwald@guitar.cs.uiuc.edu (Dirk Grunwald) (08/02/89)
This is not correct. Source compiled by GCC can be sold, and can be sold without distribution of the source. Witness the NeXT system; their entire system is compiled using GCC, and they don't distribute their display system nor their operating system. Not to mention that it explicitly states in the GPL for GCC that this is reasonable. But I agree with your point; if you want to sell something, spend money for the tools. -- Dirk Grunwald -- Univ. of Illinois (grunwald@flute.cs.uiuc.edu)