Meta-Level Compilation project / Introspector/ AST access / Licensing question

[Robert Dewar]

<<> There is nothing legally stopping anyone from creating
> a non-free back and front end on the gcc, if you dont
> use linkage, but file format.

Correct.
>>

Please do not assume that this is a correct legal theory. It is not at all
clear that using files makes much difference from a legal point of view.
A reference here is the case brought by Bentley against Intergraph, where
the analogous connection between two programs was via HTML on separate
web sites. I testified for Intergraph that since both of the programs at
the two ends could be used for multiple purposes as well as used together
that this was not a single program. Bentley disagreed. The case was settled
four weeks after trial, so the judge's decision was never rendered (this was
in the Philadelphia Circuit court), but it was not a cut and dried case. My
own view is that if two programs are tied together in the sense that at least
one of them cannot function in the absence of the other, then that is
aggregation in the sense of the GPL, regardless of whether files or static
subprograms are involved (the copyright law does not mention such technical
distinctions after all :-)

I do not mean to start a discussion on this point, in fact I strongly
discourage this discussion, since I think it would get nowhere (certainly
people should read the testimony in the above trial before starting the
discussion :-)

My point is that people are far to quick to toss out legal opinions like
the above comment and the "correct" response, when it is not at all clear
what a jury or court might find considering the intent of the copyright
law and the intent of the GPL license.

You also cannot expect FSF to give an opinion about such matters in advance.
If you proceed with the assumption reflected by the quotations above, you
are at the very least on thin ice, and I would recommend getting competent
legal advice (you may still end up on the receiving end of a suit even if
you hire an army of attorneys, as Microsoft and Napster have found out :-)