Login/New-Account | Search | Submit a Story! | Greplaw!??
 
GrepLaw
- About
- FAQ
- Discussions
- Messages
- Topics
- Authors
- Preferences
- Older Stuff
- Past Polls
- Submit Story
- XML/RSS

GrepLaw
This site is a production of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Please email if you have questions, contributions, or ideas about improving this site.

F & F
Family

Friends

 
GNU compiling on Mac OS X legal issues?
posted by scubacuda on Wednesday June 08, @12:04AM
from the dept.
Open Source Anonymous Coward writes "I have a question. If I link to libstdc++ through G++, is my proprietary software now a GPL derviative? Does this mean that any Apple Mac OS X software compiled with the GNU toolchain and linking to the GNU stdlibc++ has the same problem? libstdc++ is covered by the GPL license: http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/17_intro/C OPYING"

<  Code theft, License Agreements | Piracy in the Video Game Industry  >

 

 
GrepLaw Login
Nickname:

Password:

[ Create a new account ]

Related Links
  • http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/ libstdc++/17_intro/C OPYING
  • More on Open Source
  • Also by scubacuda
    •

    This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
    GNU compiling on Mac OS X legal issues? | Login/Create an Account | Top | 6 comments | Search Discussion
    Threshold:
    The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
    GPL and a runtime exception (Score:0)
    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08, @04:08AM (#1682)
    license terms [gnu.org]
    My understanding is NO -- you own it (Score:1)
    by TomWiles on Saturday June 18, @04:28PM (#1686)
    User #396 Info
    The GPL in this case applies to the GNU compiler which is just a tool. If you were to alter the GNU compiler or alter one of its libraries, then your new work would have to be released under the GPL.

    A programmer that uses the GNU compiler and the libraries suppied with it to compile his code into a produce he wished to sell and remain private is perfectly free to do so.

    This question came up at a lecture by Eric Raymond that I attended several years ago, and the impression I got was that if you own the source code, you own the binary code.

    Tom
    Re:My understanding is NO -- you own it (Score:0)
    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 20, @05:06PM (#1687)
    No, the license also applies to the libraries that an application links with (or at least, that's what the FSF have always held), and (at least arguably) to bits of the header files. Fortunately, the license in question isn't the GNU GPL, it's the GNU GPL together with an exception that allows certain kinds of distribution of binaries without source.

    Just the kind of explicit exception that you'd want to find for a compiler and its associated libraries, in fact.

    Re:My understanding is NO -- you own it (Score:1)
    by darkonc on Monday June 27, @07:27AM (#1688)
    User #463 Info
    GPL, it's the GNU GPL together with an exception that allows certain kinds of distribution of binaries without source.

    It's called the Lesser GPL [gnu.org] (LGPL). Be aware, however, that some libraries (like ReadLine) are GPL, while many others (like stdc, and stdio) are LGPL. You should check the license of each library you're using if you're trying to build proprietary code.

    Re:My understanding is NO -- you own it (Score:0)
    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 27, @12:41PM (#1689)
    libstdc++v3 isn't covered by the GNU LGPL, it's covered by the GNU GPL together with an exception, as described in the manual section describing the license terms [gnu.org].
    Re:My understanding is NO -- you own it (Score:0)
    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 04, @03:44AM (#1691)
    As long as your code is general C/C++ and will compile under a different compiler it's not counted as a derivative since it doesn't depend on that specific piece of GPL code. // boxed@killingar.net

    Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition. - Isaac Asimov

    [ home | contribute story | older articles | past polls | faq | authors | preferences ]