Well, as long as you don't change any of the autoconf tools - I don't see a reason why can't you.. Of course - before everyone flames me - I'll give few examples of applications that uses just the same way with gcc which is also, under GPL.. 1. Nvidia binary only drivers (compiled with GCC at Nvidia/VA Linux) 2. Matrox binary only module (for dual head - there is a static part) 3. Acrobat Reader 4. VMWare They all use gcc, VMWare uses autoconf tools also (as much as I understood from one of their programmers) - and they all don't give the source for their binaries.. -- Hetz Ben Hamo System Administrator Magnifire Web Systems Inc. On Sunday 20 May 2001 13:09, Shlomi Fish wrote: > As you may well know, GNU Autoconf and Automake are distributed under the > GPL, which means that all the autoconf m4 macros and Bournme shell source > code is also GPLed. At least from what I could see by examining the files. > > So, the question is whether it is legally possible to use autoconf for > properiatary software, provided one does not one to expose his build tree. > I have seen autoconf used by a properiatary product (MySQL before it > was GPLed), but in that case it was a sourceware product, which was > distributed with its source. I don't know what was the license of the > source files that could see the autoconf code, but since the source code > was available, it did not matter much to make them under a very > open-source license. > > Naturally, autoconf can compile proprietary code because make and the > shell only invoke the compiler on the source code and do not link against > it. However, if I write a "configure.in" script - must it be distributed > under a GPL compatible license? > > I noticed that some of the files that were generated in one of my own > projects (whose license is compatible with the GPL) carried a "this is > free software" header. They did not say that they were distributed under > the "GNU General Public License", but they did not say otherwise either. > > So, can anybody knowledgable in the intricates of the GPL and autoconf, > enlighten me? > > Regards, > > Shlomi Fish > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > Shlomi Fish [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Home Page: http://t2.technion.ac.il/~shlomif/ > Home E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > A more experienced programmer does not make less bugs. He just realizes > what went wrong more quickly. > > > ================================================================= > To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with > the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command > echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
