Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!hplabs!hp-pcd!hplsla!jima
From: jima@hplsla.HP.COM (              Jim Adcock)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: libg++ caution
Message-ID: <6590055@hplsla.HP.COM>
Date: 25 May 88 18:04:49 GMT
Organization: HP Lake Stevens, WA
Lines: 40

While I am not a lawyer, nor has the following been
discussed with a lawyer, conversations with Stallman
have clarified that use of libg++ in commercial
products can indeed lead to serious entanglements.

The simple answer is that people writing "commercial"
code are not "free" to use libg++, since libg++ comes
with serious restrictions on its commercial use.

Yet, like C, C++ compilers are only half complete
if one does not have a compatible set of libraries one
can use.  But suppliers of compilers seem very reluctant
to allow users of those compilers to include code from the
required libraries in commercial products developed by
compiling code on those compilers.

This is a major difficulty in developing code for
commercial products.  Many of the better compilers
one might want to use come with these library
entanglement problems, so one is not "free" to us 
them, and has to settle for second best compilers
and/or languages.

??? Does anyone have a truly "public domain" set of compatible
libraries for C++ compilers, or would anyone be willing
to make such a set of libraries available to the general
public ??? If anyone was able and willing to make such a set
of libraries available, the commonality and portability of
C++ programs between compilers and various operating systems
would be greatly enhanced.

Any comments or suggestions on this problem would be appreciated.


The above casual comments reflect the concerns and feelings of this
author only, who would like very much to be able to use C++
in his day-to-day work.


- Jim Adcock, Hewlett-Packard, Lake Stevens -