RE: Removal of support for GCC hosted on UWIN

[David Korn <dkorn at pixelpower dot com>]

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Alexandre Oliva [mailto:aoliva@redhat.com]
>Sent: 09 January 2001 09:14
>
>On Jan  9, 2001, Mark Mitchell <mark@codesourcery.com> wrote:
>
>> Note that GCC is merely a special case: it is a violation of the GPL
>> to link *any* GPL'd program with the U/WIN support library.
>
>I don't even know what U/WIN is but, AFAIK, the GNU GPL only covers
>the *distribution* of GNU GPLed programs or libraries.  Linking with a
>proprietary library is legal, as long as you don't redistribute the
>result of the linking.
>
>I understand the removing support from U/WIN is a form of making it
>harder for someone to violate the GNU GPL, but I thought I'd point out
>that anyone is free to take the patch you're about to remove, install
>it in their own GCC source tree and build GCC for their own use.
>Right?

  Wouldn't it be possible to just disable statically linking the shared lib?
Wouldn't that make it impossible to violate the GPL but allow the target
support to be retained ?  [Please note that asking this question alas does
not amount to an offer to do the work - sorry!]

     DaveK
-- 
The Boulder Pledge: "Under no circumstances will I ever purchase anything 
offered to me as the result of an unsolicited email message. Nor will I 
forward chain letters, petitions, mass mailings, or virus warnings to large 
numbers of others. This is my contribution to the survival of the online
community." 


**********************************************************************
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they
are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify
the system manager.

This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by
MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses.

www.mimesweeper.com
**********************************************************************