Date: Sun, 21 Dec 1997 11:05:10 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: <199712211605.LAA26191@delorie.com>
From: DJ Delorie <dj AT delorie DOT com>
To: jfn AT enteract DOT com
CC: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
In-reply-to: <67gsjr$s9v@eve.enteract.com> (jfn@enteract.com)
Subject: DJGPP's library copyright
Precedence: bulk


> Last time i looked, djgpp's libc was not under the GPL.  Has this
> changed recently?

DJGPP's *sources* are under the GPL (except the BSD ones), but the
pre-compiled libraries (or any library built from the *distributed*
sources) are not.  See the file COPYING.DJ for details.  This is a
specific exception to the GPL that I added to allow commercial use of
DJGPP.  This does not apply to sources from other sources, like gcc or
allegro, which have their own copyright terms.

The intent was that the user should be able to get the sources
somehow, but most of the time they'd just download djgpp themselves.
It's like the GPL but less strict about how the end-user gets the
sources.  I specifically intended for people to be able to use djgpp
to build commercial programs without having to distribute their
sources or objects or djgpp itself, without license or royalty fees.

I suppose this means that if you fix a bug in libc, and use that fixed
library in a commercial program, you must provide the fixed sources
with your completed program.  Actually, this sounds like a *good*
thing anyway, but the better solution is to report the patch to us and
let everyone have the fix officially.

On the other hand, I really don't have the time or desire to hunt down
everyone that doesn't do the Right Thing, and I'd much rather spend my
time writing software and helping others write software than being the
Software Police.  I make no money from DJGPP, so I have no incentive
to stop people from "stealing" it.