To:	cwyles AT nyx10 DOT cs DOT du DOT edu, djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu
From:	ken AT rahul DOT net (Ken Greenberg)
Subject:	Re: Stupid legal question - selling compiled programs?
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Date:	Tue, 10 Oct 1995 09:42:51 -0400
Lines:	27

> I have read all the 'copying' readme files for the GCC compilers. What I 
> want to know is this. Can I sell a compiled program I wrote in C and 
> compiled using GCC?
> 

The output of GCC itself is not a problem; you can pretty much do what
you want with it. The problem is the libraries. These are covered by the
GNU library license, not the GPL. Assuming your program links in the
run-time libraries (i.e., if you have not written your own RTL from
scratch), you need to follow the terms of this license. As I read it,
you are required to make your program available in relocatable (.O) form
in addition to the executable (.EXE) form. This allows end-users to
modify the library and relink to your relocatable objects.

This is, IMHO, a silly restriction and one my customers probably
would find useless. And, since I am selling to other than end users,
my customers would probably find it unacceptable, as well. For this
resaon, I am only using GCC as a prototyping tool, and will end up
switching to a commercial compiler (all of which have no restrictions
on library use) before shipping product. Too bad, because I really
like GCC software; I just hate the licensing.

Of course, if someone has a different interpretation of the GNU library
license, I'd love to hear it. Especially if you've run it by a lawyer...

-Ken

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