8 Dec 05 notes from GCC improvement for Itanium conference call

[Chris Lattner]

On Dec 16, 2005, at 11:15 AM, Mark K. Smith wrote:
> Additionally to the obstacles to adopt LLVM mentioned by Diego, I
> named usage of C++ (although it has advantages too) and patents. LLVM
> should be checked for usage of compiler patents. Gcc people avoided
> many patents especially from Microsoft. We can not be sure right now
> about LLVM.

Hi,

For what it's worth, LLVM doesn't depend on any technology patented  
by Microsoft that I'm aware of.  This seems to  be an item of common  
confusion, so I'll clear it up here.

The confusion is basically centered around the distinction between my  
PhD research work and LLVM itself.
The thesis work I did at UIUC does relate closely to Steensgaard's  
pointer analysis work, which is patented by Microsoft.  However, this  
thesis work is not currently used by LLVM, and certainly won't be  
incorporated directly into GCC (for obvious patent reasons), so this  
isn't an issue with LLVM adoption by GCC.

If you or the Gelato group has any questions about LLVM, I'd be more  
than happy to answer them either on this list or over the phone.

-Chris