Paul,
You are simply wrong in your interpretation of the GPL here.
The linuxcnc.org project is not alone in applying the GPL to software
that runs on FPGAs and is compiled by proprietary tools. The GNU
project "gnuradio" is another (and you can bet that official GNU
projects have a high level of scrutiny as far as license compliance!).
Their home page is:
http://www.gnu.org/software/gnuradio/
they do very much the same thing I have done: provide the verilog
source, the other files used by the Quartus 2 environment, and the .rbf
output files. Take a look at the gr-gpio/src/fpga subdirectory of their
source distribution to see for yourself.
Others who believe the GPL can be applied to FPGAs are Xilinx (a major
FPGA producer), which I mentioned the last time you brought up this
crazy "FPGAs can't run GPL software" claim over a year ago:
http://www.xilinx.com/publications/xcellonline/xcell_46/xc_pdf/xc_freesw46.pdf
-- it's actually a great article about the development of a digital
imaging system that is completely reconfigurable due to inclusion of an
FPGA, with all the code GPL'd.
The well-known website for FPGA developers, opencores.org, hosts many
GPL and LGPL FPGA projects. They do not believe any GPL exceptions are
required:
4.1 What license is used for opencores?
Each author uses their preferred license. Generally licenses are
either GNU or BSD in nature.
[...]
To simplify life for users, developers are strongly encouraged to
use an unmodified GPL or LGPL (Lesser GPL) license or the modified
BSD license.
http://www.opencores.org/faq.cgi/section/4/4
I could go on, but there is a very clear consensus that the GPL can be
applied to FPGA software.
Now, let's look at the section of the GPL that you think shows a
problem:
On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 08:58:09AM +0000, paul_c wrote:
> Section 3 c)
> The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making
> modifications to it.
Check. You get the source files I wrote, the same source files I'd
modify if I wanted to make improvements to pluto_step or pluto_servo.
> For an executable work, complete source code means all
> the source code for all modules it contains, plus any associated interface
> definition files, plus the scripts used to control compilation and
> installation of the executable.
Check. (one part of the compilation involves manually running a GUI, but
is described accurately in prose in the manual)
> However, as a special exception, the source
> code distributed need not include anything that is normally distributed (in
> either source or binary form) with the major components (compiler, kernel,
> and so on) of the operating system on which the executable runs, unless
> that component itself accompanies the executable.
Check. I've repeatedly rebuilt the FPGA firmware using only things from
a CVS checkout of the emc2 source tree and things included in the
Quartus 2 development environment. I've also compiled it using Icarus
Verilog for testing purposes.
There is NO REQUIREMENT that this compiler be no-cost, let alone Free.
You keep saying this, but it is simply not in the GPL. It is also
specifically addressed in the GPL v2 FAQ that I quoted from earlier.
I'll quote it again:
[Q:] Can I release a program under the GPL which I developed using
non-free tools?
[A:] Which programs you used to edit the source code, or to compile
it, or study it, or record it, usually makes no difference for
issues concerning the licensing of that source code.
However, if you link non-free libraries with the source code, that
would be an issue you need to deal with. It does not preclude
releasing the source code under the GPL, but if the libraries don't
fit under the “system library” exception, you should affix an
explicit notice giving permission to link your program with them.
The FSF can give you advice on doing this.
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0-faq.html#NonFreeTools
Jeff
PS I personally would like it very much if it were possible to develop
the pluto and mesa firmwares on Linux using only Free tools.
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