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Re: Compiling programs licensed under the GPL version 2 with GCC 4.4
- From: Florian Weimer <fw at deneb dot enyo dot de>
- To: Joe Buck <Joe dot Buck at synopsys dot COM>
- Cc: "gcc\ at gcc dot gnu dot org" <gcc at gcc dot gnu dot org>
- Date: Sun, 26 Jul 2009 08:46:51 +0200
- Subject: Re: Compiling programs licensed under the GPL version 2 with GCC 4.4
- References: <87y6qcfprf.fsf@mid.deneb.enyo.de> <20090726015725.GA29580@synopsys.com>
* Joe Buck:
> On Sat, Jul 25, 2009 at 01:53:40PM -0700, Florian Weimer wrote:
>> Kalle Olavi Niemitalo discovered that as an operating system vendor,
>> you are not allowed to distribute GPL version 2 programs if they are
>> compiled with GCC 4.4. The run-time library is GPL version 3 or
>> later, which is incompatible with GPL version 2, so it is not
>> permitted to link this with the GPLv2-only program and distribute the
>> result.
>
> That's incorrect. The runtime library is GPLv3 or later, but with an
> *exception* that permits linking not only with GPLv2 programs, but
> also with proprietary programs.
Eh, this exception doesn't change that the GPLv2 program perceives the
GPLv3 as incompatible. Why would it?
I can't take my own proprietary library, give permission to link it
with GPLv2 programs, link it with a GPLv2 program, and distribute the
result. The GPLv2 license on the program does not permit this. And
as far as the GPLv2 is concerned, the GPLv3 is like a proprietary
license because it has got additional restrictions.