libstdc++ still has license conditions of SGI STL on top of GNU GPLv3+GCC Runtime Exception, right?

P. - pressbuttonsharder@gmail.com
Sun May 24 01:08:50 GMT 2020


вс, 24 мая 2020 г. в 02:14, Jonathan Wakely <jwakely.gcc@gmail.com>:

> You should talk to a lawyer if you're concerned, but the notices say
> they apply to "this software and its documentation" not to your
> software.
>

The mentioned header files are full of templates, which will be included in
the object files if used. So, a partial copy of "this software" (if it
actually covers any templates) is very likely to end up in my binaries. In
fact, I'm 99% sure that I'm bound by those license agreements and can't use
libstdc++ without including a copy of those copyright notices and licenses
in documentation - and that would be fine, I'm OK with that - but
everywhere I go I can't find anyone who would mention it. It is as if usage
of libstdc++ is ONLY bound by GPLv3 + GCC Runtime Exception, and those
additional terms around it-is-going-to-end-up-in-the-binary-code do not
exist - even on stackexchange I got "GPLv3 + Exception only" answer.

There are a few ways where ignoring those licenses is possible:
1) Hewlett-Packard and Silicon Graphics Computer Systems, Inc. has
voluntarily contributed their code to be distributed under GCC's license
and the notices are there for historical reason - can't find anything about
that;
2) FSF/libstdc++ maintainers has obtained special permissions from
Hewlett-Packard and Silicon Graphics Computer Systems, Inc. to distribute
their code under GCC's license - again, can't find anything;
3) The license actually covers only notes and comments that exist only in
header files - the libstdc++'s FAQ contradicts that (see the link in the
original email);
4) The code that is covered by those licenses exists only in compile time
and is thrown away when compiled.

The lawyer can't answer those 4 questions - only the libstdc++
maintainers/authors can.
To reiterate, I'm completely fine with those additional conditions (albeit
it's not very convenient to extract them with regular expressions and gcc
-E -C), but I just can't find any mention of "the libstdc++ is licensed
under GPLv3 + GCC Runtime Exception, but some of its components have
3rd-party licenses that have additional terms" everywhere else apart from
the headers. I even saw an opinion that GCC Runtime Exception exempts me
from complying with those licenses, but such an exemption simply can't
apply to an included 3rd-party code!

Best regards, thanks for replying.


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