From: noer AT cygnus DOT com (Geoffrey Noer) Subject: Re: Cygnus Cygwin32 Press Release 1/21/97 11 Feb 1997 17:44:41 -0800 Approved: cygnus DOT gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com Distribution: cygnus Message-ID: <199702110959.BAA17042.cygnus.gnu-win32@rtl.cygnus.com> Content-Type: text Original-To: jqb AT netcom DOT com (Jim Balter) Original-Cc: gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com In-Reply-To: <32FFEEF4.7EC9@netcom.com> from "Jim Balter" at Feb 10, 97 08:00:52 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23] Content-Length: 2643 Original-Sender: owner-gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com Jim Balter wrote: [...] > Using gcc does not force people to share their source code (I don't > think; see below). cygwin.dll is not gcc. Unfortunately (in my opinion), gcc and the cygwin32 library are more closely linked (no pun intended) than might be ideal since libc and libm are both in the dll. Since the Cygwin32 port of gcc links against libcygwin.a by default which is under the GPL license, it is my understanding that programs built with it rely on the cygwin.dll and must fall under the GPL terms. [...] > Cygnus apparently no longer shares the FSF philosophy towards > free software. That's their right, of course. That it is a "problem" > for others who also don't share the FSF philosophy that they don't get to > both use Cygnus's code and hoard their own seems like a fitting problem, > to me. From my perspective as a Cygnus engineer, free software is still very important to Cygnus and will be for as long as we're around (hopefully a while yet :-). As Cygnus grows (as companies pay us for the work we do), we are able to put more and more engineering hours into making free software better. I think this is great. > > we at least have to be able to produce native binaries without cygnus's > > library. > > You can already do that with mingw32, so what's the issue here? > mingw32 isn't a Cygnus project and isn't affected by Cygnus's decision > in re cygwin.dll, I don't think. As long as you do not link against the cygwin.dll (libcygwin.a), you should be ok with respect to not being tainted by the GPL. It is my understanding that mingw32 allows you to build win32 applications that don't rely on the cygwin.dll in which case you should be able to use it. > Unless the fact that gcc itself uses cygwin.dll infects programs > compiled with gcc, but I don't think so Correct, the fact that the development tools rely on the cygwin.dll does not cause programs compiled with cygwin32 gcc to be tainted. As I mentioned before, the thing to be aware of is that the library is linked against by default so if you want to develop proprietary apps with the gnu-win32 tools, you need to either: 1) obtain a commercial license for Cygwin32 from Cygnus, which won't be under the GPL or LGPL. This will allow you to distribute your software without requiring you to distribute your source code. 2) use the mingw32 modifications and avoid the Cygwin32 library entirely. *big disclaimer*: I am a software engineer, NOT a lawyer. I believe my answers to be accurate but they may not be. If you really care about any of this, read the terms of the GNU General Public License... -- Geoffrey Noer noer AT cygnus DOT com - For help on using this list, send a message to "gnu-win32-request AT cygnus DOT com" with one line of text: "help".