[M3devel] licensing (gcc patches)

[Olaf Wagner]

Quoting hendrik at topoi.pooq.com:

> On Sun, Jul 04, 2010 at 04:20:01PM +0000, Jay K wrote:
>>
>> licensing
>>
>> "for the record"
>> I don't necessarily want to discuss it..
>>
>>
>> It has been speculated here that
>> our gcc patches weren't acceptable
>> because our license is more restrictive than GPL.
>>
>> I believe it is more like the opposite.
>> Our patches not accepted because our license is /less/ restrictive.
>
> The restriction I see in the modula 3 license is everyone dealing in
> Modula 3 code has to allow SRC to do anything they want to any of it.
> This 'requirement to allow' is a restriction that doesn't apply to GPL,
> so in that sense we're more restrictive.
>
> In pretty well all other ways, we're less restrictive.

The M3 licence allows free use and distribution of the code in source
and binary format. There is no restriction that source must be provided
if it is changed or sold or just used as a service by anyone, i.e. it is
no viral license.

The only provision is that _if_ patches are returned to the copyright owner
(which can be DEC, Critical Mass, or others), they may use them for any
purpose they wish without any restriction, too.

Actually, both DEC and Critical Mass won't (any more). At least as far
as I can see...

>>  To most of the code. Not to the patch or files added to gcc.
>>  They can't really be.
>
> Of course any code we *add* at this point can be dual-licensed, letting
> people who get it use one license, or the other, or both, at their
> option.

Code linked with gcc must be under GPL. That's why DEC went to all
this fuss with two-phase compilation using two processes. Otherwise all
the M3 compiler code would need to be distributed as source by anyone
who uses it, too. GPL is still pretty much a no-go for commercial use.

In fact that's the reason why the FSF never accepted the M3 extensions
for gcc; they didn't approve of the license `workaround'.

Olaf
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