Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!uwvax!oddjob!hao!ames!amdcad!sun!pitstop!sundc!rlgvax!golds From: golds@rlgvax.UUCP (Rich Goldschmidt) Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Subject: Re: GNU C++ for toolkits Summary: GNU license restrictions Message-ID: <807@rlgvax.UUCP> Date: 24 Jan 88 23:24:15 GMT References: <802@rlgvax.UUCP> <2479@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> Organization: Computer Consoles Inc, Reston VA Lines: 35 In article <2479@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>, wesommer@athena.mit.edu (William E. Sommerfeld) writes: > In article <802@rlgvax.UUCP> golds@rlgvax.UUCP (Rich Goldschmidt) writes: > >Although it is free, GNU is not public domain. Their license contains some > >significant restrictions, which makes it unusable for a commercial product. > > Wrong. The license for GNU CC (and GNU C++) states only that you are > compelled to distribute source to the compiler, or an offer to > distribute source to the compiler in exchange for a distribution fee; > it does not say that anything compiled with it must be covered by > those terms, and GCC doesn't put a GNU `copyleft' into its output. > > Also, the bizarre licensing `restrictions' on GNU C++ are irrelevant > to whether or not an object oriented user interface toolkit should be > written in C++; the existance of GNU C++ merely means that it is now a > lot easier to get a hold of a C++ translator for some machines. > > - Bill My reading of the license restrictions accompanying GNU are that any derivitive products must be distributed free, with source code. I am not a legal wizard, but I would not be willing to risk a large software development on the interpretation of the terms of the GNU license. If the FREE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION wishes to clarify the intent of their restrictions as a part of their license, that might shed some light on this issue. I do think that the combination of a commercially available C++ and GNU C++ makes C++ a reasonable possibility as a target. However, I would hope that toolkits would not be built to depend on an unsupported offering, if possible. It is also true that developers of both Xtk and Andrew toolkits have already posted why they are not too excited about C++. Rich Goldschmidt uunet!rlgvax!golds sun!sundc!rlgvax!golds rlgvax!golds@uunet.uu.net