Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 21:42:24 -0400 (EDT)
Message-Id: <199805230142.VAA04766@delorie.com>
From: DJ Delorie <dj AT delorie DOT com>
To: johnfine AT erols DOT com, djgpp AT delorie DOT com
In-reply-to: <3565D1FB.6FA2@erols.com> (johnfine@erols.com)
Subject: Re: Legalities of a mini-distribution of DJGPP?
Precedence: bulk


>   I would like to distribute a few .c files, which I got from
> djlsr201.zip, with an appropriate statement about where they came from.
> 
>   I will be distributing a COFF .o file compiled with DJGPP from my
> own source code, which I will NOT be releasing.  I believe/hope that
> conversion methods exists which will allow someone to combine that .o
> file with local libc routines (fopen, printf etc.) on a platform other
> than DOS to get a local version of the executable.

First off, there may be technical issues with using DJGPP objects on
other platforms.  For example, DJGPP uses COFF but with leading
underscores; no other platform does that.

As far as the distribution goes, the sources are covered by the GNU
GPL, plain and simple.  *My* interpretation of the GPL in this case
(distributing my sources with your object) is that this is a "mere
aggregate" - you are not distributing a binary made from my sources,
just the sources themselves.  You will need to distribute a copy of
COPYING.DJ *and* COPYING with those sources, of course.

However, your users will *never* be able to redistribute anything
built from my sources and your objects.  The combined work (after
linking) must become GPL, and without your sources, there is no way to
comply with the GPL's redistribution terms.  They are free to use it
themselves, they just can't give it to anyone else.  They would be
free to redistribute the "kit" they got from you (providing your terms
allow it; mine certainly do) but not the binary they made from it.

Note that the exception I make in my copyright only applies to using
the pre-compiled libc.a that comes with djgpp; it does not cover the
sources used to build that libc.a.

Note also my previous statement about libc bugfixes: if you submit the
fix to djgpp-workers, you may consider it "official" enough to apply
the exception to your patched libc.a.  I don't think it applies here,
but people might get confused if I don't mention it.

The GPL does not require that you mention where the sources came from
or who originally wrote them, but thank you for doing so.

>   The routines I need all refer to COPYING.DJ;  I was surprised to
> discover that I can't find a copy of that document (which may contain
> the answer to my question).  I may be misusing unzip, but I can't
> seem to find it in any of the .zip files I downloaded.

It's not in the zips; it's stored on the FTP servers separately.  I
should probably include a copy in all my zips just to be safe, even
though it breaks my own rule about zips not overwriting each other's
files.