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Re: Ada & JGNAT
Matthias Benkmann writes:
> On Tue, 06 Jul 2004 16:41:35 -0700 Jim Wilson <wilson@specifixinc.com>
> wrote:
>
> > rms has expressed concerns to the GCC SC about java byte code support.
> > He is concerned that it could be used to subvert the GPL. A proprietary
> >
> > compiler could emit java byte codes for instance, and then feed it into
> > gcc to avoid linking with gcc code.
>
> Is this discussion archived somewhere? I'd like to understand this issue
> and what you're saying makes no sense to me.
A worry has always been that you could write a proprietary compiler
and use gcc's back end. You could do this without violating the GPL
by making the two passes of the compiler separate programs. The first
proprietary part would output some kind of intermediate form, the
second part would read that and generate code. We don't want that to
happen: we would rather have free front ends.
Andrew.