is the default ld linker script GPL?

is the default ld linker script GPL?

[Daniel Wilkerson]

If one is hacking on linker scripts, it is handy to have an example,
so I was thinking of dumping the default binutils ld linker script
using --verbose and hacking on it.

However, I am wondering if it is GPL.  I could think of it as an
elaborate configuration file, or I could think of it as a program in a
domain specific programming language.  Either way, it would be helpful
to clarify this.  Maybe this has already been done somewhere and I did
not find it.  The output of ld --verbose does not say.

Daniel

Re: is the default ld linker script GPL?

[Nicholas Clifton]

Hi Daniel,

> However, I am wondering if it is GPL.  I could think of it as an
> elaborate configuration file, or I could think of it as a program in a
> domain specific programming language.  Either way, it would be helpful
> to clarify this.

You are correct - this is something that is not currently explicitly 
defined.  The files should be covered by a copyright notice but they do 
not need to be under the GPL.  So please consider the following to apply 
to all linker scripts in the ld/scripttempl/ directory:

   Copyright (C) 2012-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
   are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
   notice and this notice are preserved.

I will be checking a patch shortly to make this change official.

Cheers
   Nick

Re: is the default ld linker script GPL?

[Daniel Wilkerson]

Ok, well when you make that change, it might be helpful if the notice
you just sent me were a comment in the linker script so that someone
could satisfy the requirements of the notice by simply preserving the
comment.  Given that people will likely change the code after it was
generated, you might want to prefix your notice with a sentence saying
that the file was originally generated by gnu ld --verbose and as such
the following notice applies to the original version.

On Tue, Aug 19, 2014 at 9:26 AM, Nicholas Clifton <nickc@redhat.com> wrote:
> Hi Daniel,
>
>
>> However, I am wondering if it is GPL.  I could think of it as an
>> elaborate configuration file, or I could think of it as a program in a
>> domain specific programming language.  Either way, it would be helpful
>> to clarify this.
>
>
> You are correct - this is something that is not currently explicitly
> defined.  The files should be covered by a copyright notice but they do not
> need to be under the GPL.  So please consider the following to apply to all
> linker scripts in the ld/scripttempl/ directory:
>
>   Copyright (C) 2012-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
>
>   Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
>   are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
>   notice and this notice are preserved.
>
> I will be checking a patch shortly to make this change official.
>
> Cheers
>   Nick
>