Path: utzoo!telly!ddsw1!mcdchg!rutgers!ukma!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!WHEATIES.AI.MIT.EDU!rms From: rms@WHEATIES.AI.MIT.EDU (Richard Stallman) Newsgroups: gnu.gcc Subject: More confusion on GNU copying conditions Message-ID: <8812032112.AA00778@sugar-bombs.ai.mit.edu> Date: 3 Dec 88 21:12:03 GMT References: <19489@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> Sender: daemon@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu Distribution: gnu Organization: GNUs Not Usenet Lines: 30 If I was to compile program foo.c with gcc, then link it with the gcc supplied libraries, BUT supply my customers with: My executable My object code All the gcc libraries in archive format Source to gcc and all libraries.(The full current gcc distribution) Makefiles which would re-link my object code with the gcc libraries. Would selling this violate the Copyright {left?}? This question seems to presuppose an inaccurate view of the facts of how our software is distributed and labeled, so it is not clear what question was intended. If "All the GCC libraries (the full current GCC distribution)" is taken literally, it refers GNULIB, the sole library in the GCC distribution. As I have explained several times, GNULIB is a special case because its functions are so small that I doubt copyright applies to them. If so, the answer is No. It is more likely that the questioner intends to refer to all the other GNU libraries, which are not part of the GCC distribution. If so, the answer is Yes. Because that executable contains GNU code (parts of the GNU libraries), it cannot be distributed unless all of its source code is available as free software. Nothing less will do. Whether you use GCC, and whether you distribute GCC source code, have no effect on the answer.