Date:	Mon, 2 Aug 93 09:43:44 -0400
From:	DJ Delorie <dj AT ctron DOT com>
To:	turnbull AT shako DOT sk DOT tsukuba DOT ac DOT jp
Cc:	djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu
Subject:	Re: CopyLeft and packaging (oops)

> One should be a little careful about the constraints of CopyLeft.
> The CopyLeft (technically, I guess I should say GNU Public License)
> doesn't prevent DJ from packaging the compiler any way he likes (I
> think, except that the compiler itself is CopyLeft so he must provide
> sources, etc.)  I think even if he mixes things together this is
> fine---it's "mere aggregation" (I'm not a lawyer).  However, it
> defeats the intent (and maybe the letter) of the CopyLeft if he shoves
> the burden of figuring out which modules can be linked in without
> invoking the Copyleft onto the users of the compiler.

The setup I'm using at clarkson has been "blessed" by RMS himself.
The constraint that area is working under is this one:

	* The sources to any binary must be available at the same
	site, preferrably in the same directory, as the binary.

I choose to keep the binaries packaged similar to the GNU sources
(gcc241bn.zip with gcc241sr.tgz, for example) so that I can upgrade
GNU modules as they come out without having to release a new djgpp.

As for linking GPL stuff, I moved them all into libgpl.a so it would
be obvious which were which.  Since the sources are all available, the
developer can read all the copyrights if he/she wants.

DJ

- Raw text -