From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 10381 invoked by alias); 25 Aug 2012 07:34:30 -0000 Received: (qmail 9844 invoked by uid 22791); 25 Aug 2012 07:34:29 -0000 X-SWARE-Spam-Status: No, hits=-2.3 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00,KHOP_THREADED,RDNS_NONE X-Spam-Check-By: sourceware.org Received: from Unknown (HELO ka.mail.enyo.de) (87.106.162.201) by sourceware.org (qpsmtpd/0.43rc1) with ESMTP; Sat, 25 Aug 2012 07:34:08 +0000 Received: from [172.17.135.4] (helo=deneb.enyo.de) by ka.mail.enyo.de with esmtps (TLS1.0:RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA1:16) id 1T5AsZ-0002UM-32; Sat, 25 Aug 2012 09:33:59 +0200 Received: from fw by deneb.enyo.de with local (Exim 4.80) (envelope-from ) id 1T5AsY-0002lG-Ig; Sat, 25 Aug 2012 09:33:58 +0200 From: Florian Weimer To: "Byron Blue" Cc: Subject: Re: Simple question References: <7D3F997945FA4AEAA34010AAEFFD4335@Byron> Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2012 15:57:00 -0000 In-Reply-To: <7D3F997945FA4AEAA34010AAEFFD4335@Byron> (Byron Blue's message of "Wed, 22 Aug 2012 09:05:00 -0400") Message-ID: <87fw7bs9w9.fsf@mid.deneb.enyo.de> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-IsSubscribed: yes 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/msg00233.txt.bz2 * 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 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.