From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 13845 invoked by alias); 25 Aug 2012 09:26:19 -0000 Received: (qmail 13834 invoked by uid 22791); 25 Aug 2012 09:26:19 -0000 X-SWARE-Spam-Status: No, hits=-1.4 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_40,KHOP_THREADED,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE,RCVD_IN_HOSTKARMA_NO,SPF_NEUTRAL X-Spam-Check-By: sourceware.org Received: from mo-p05-ob.rzone.de (HELO mo-p05-ob.rzone.de) (81.169.146.180) by sourceware.org (qpsmtpd/0.43rc1) with ESMTP; Sat, 25 Aug 2012 09:26:05 +0000 X-RZG-AUTH: :LXoWVUeid/7A29J/hMvvT2k715jHQaJercGOZE+TiTS5oyq5h49L8Cg= X-RZG-CLASS-ID: mo05 Received: from [192.168.2.100] (dslb-084-058-194-143.pools.arcor-ip.net [84.58.194.143]) by smtp.strato.de (joses mo18) (RZmta 30.11 DYNA|AUTH) with ESMTPA id 501d9fo7P97h4E ; Sat, 25 Aug 2012 11:26:03 +0200 (CEST) Message-ID: <50389999.50004@gcc.gnu.org> Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2012 16:05:00 -0000 From: Georg-Johann Lay User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.24 (Windows/20100228) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Florian Weimer CC: Byron Blue , gcc-help@gcc.gnu.org Subject: Re: Simple question References: <7D3F997945FA4AEAA34010AAEFFD4335@Byron> <87fw7bs9w9.fsf@mid.deneb.enyo.de> In-Reply-To: <87fw7bs9w9.fsf@mid.deneb.enyo.de> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mailing-List: contact gcc-help-help@gcc.gnu.org; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk List-Id: List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: Sender: gcc-help-owner@gcc.gnu.org X-SW-Source: 2012-08/txt/msg00234.txt.bz2 Florian Weimer schrieb: > * Byron Blue: > >> This is the question: >> GCC uses the GNU license scheme. This operating system would be >> embedding in our industrial computers and I do not (of course) want >> the source code for our operating system to be open source - available >> to our competitors. The GNU site is not quite clear in this area and >> being new I would not want to "break the rules". Could I ask you for a >> bit of clarification on this issue? > > Unless you take special precautions, GCC copies parts of itself into > compiled executables. The compiled executables must therefore be > licensed in a way that is compatible with the GPL. However, there is > an exception for many parts which can be copied in this way. This No, GCC does not "copy parts of itself" into compiled executables. All code generated by GCC is natively generated and not copied from somewhere else. What GCC does is to generate calls to support functions from libgcc. libgcc is licensed under the GPL but comes with the Runtime Library Exception (RLE) so that you can link any code against libgcc, even statically, without turning the final executable to GPL or even touching the license of your code. The RLE does not apply if the code must be licensed under GPL for other reasons, for example because the project uses GPL sources like the sources of libgcc. Johann > exception comes with a set of complex conditions: > > > > Whether these exceptions apply in your case is hard to tell. It is > unlikely that professional legal advice could give you a definitive > answer, either. > > I'll ask the FSF to update the link Ian posted.