This is the mail archive of the
gcc@gcc.gnu.org
mailing list for the GCC project.
Re: U/WIN host
- From: Joe Buck <Joe dot Buck at synopsys dot com>
- To: velco at fadata dot bg (Momchil Velikov)
- Cc: gcc at gcc dot gnu dot org
- Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 09:52:29 -0700 (PDT)
- Subject: Re: U/WIN host
> Out of curiosity, why is the following excerpt from gcc/confgiure.in.
> What is the difference to using, e.g., Solaris or any other
> proprietary OS as a host platform ?
The GPL requires that the recipient of a binary be able to obtain full
source for that binary, with one special exception: it's allowed to link
with proprietary libraries that are part of operating system or compiler.
The proprietary UWIN support libraries, in the opinion of the FSF, don't
qualify for this special exception, so it is believed illegal to
distribute a gcc/UWIN native compiler. A cross-compiler with UWIN as a
target would not be a problem, since the cross-compiler would not contain
proprietary code of this kind. So, when this issue came up, we convinced
the FSF that it was OK to leave UWIN in as a target, but not as a host.
I suppose someone could argue that UWIN plus Windows together could be
considered an OS. But if you want to make that argument, please argue
with RMS directly and not with the gcc development list.