[Nel] Using GCC? -- was: GPL specifics

Fri, 14 Dec 2001 14:41:33 +0100

According to Tony Hoyt:
+> Okay well I hate to go slightly off topic here but this is a question
+> that I need to ask since we're talking about all GPL, LGPL, etc.  Where
+> does building an application with gcc fall into all of this?  I write a
+> program, build it with gcc or g++ and plan to sell it to other users. 
+> But, I don't want to distribute the source of the application.  Can I
+> still use gcc/g++?  or am I forced to find an alternative compiler such
+> as VisualC for windows or a unix specific compiler for unix variants?
+
+Even though you *used* GCC to build the program, gcc *itself* is in no
+way present in the program you distribute. There's no portion of gcc
+source code or binary in your application. Thus, your program does not
+inherit the licensing from the gcc GPL license.
+
+The only think that gets bundled is the C library. And the C library
+(glibc) is covered by the LGPL, which specifically allows for that case
+(i.e. distributing a program that is linked with a GPL software, without
+ placing the GPL strictures on the program itself).
+
+The same thing would apply to a C grammar parser that was generated
+by bison (the GPL parser generation tool). Using bison to generate your
+C source does not require you to put said source under the GPL: bison
+is not included in your program, only its output (hmmm, is the library
+required for bison LGPL? I think so, but can't remember)
+
+-- 
+	Vincent Archer			Email:	archer@frmug.org
+
+All men are mortal.  Socrates was mortal.  Therefore, all men are Socrates.
+							(Woody Allen)
+
+