Hi, P.Kharitonov, from project "stribog", asks: (at http://savannah.gnu.org/support/index.php?106327)
<<<<< http://www.gpl-violations.org/faq/sourcecode-faq.html tells that a GPL-compliant distribution should include e.g. the cross-compiler used. Thus, in the case of stribog, gEDA, avr-libc, GNU binutils and GCC should be added to the source tarball. I'm in doubt whether to waste savannah space or to find another hosting service to distribute the project in a GPL-conformant way. >>>> That page indeed says: <<<<< What kind of source code do I have to publish under the GNU GPL? ... - What about the compiler, the toolchain? The GPL explicitly states: "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." Clearly, this paragraph is written for userspace programs running on existing general purpose operating systems. So if you have only distributed such programs, then you do not need to include compiler, kernel, linker, and so on. Particularly in the case of cross-compilation for embedded platforms, the cross compiler for your specific hardware is very likely not something that is "normally distributed with ... the operating system". Therefore, in such cases, you have to provide the the exact version of your compiler toolchain that was used to create the executables that you have distributed. Please note that in most cases this will be GNU GCC, which is itself GPL licensed, so the GPL obligations will in turn apply to the toolchain, and you must release the complete corresponding source code to it as well. >>>>> Such a requirement sounds weird to me; for example I know of MS Windows-only GPL'd projects that only compile with MS VC++, and I never saw requirements to redistribute VC++ under the GPL. Can you comment on this gpl-violations.org FAQ? Thanks, -- Sylvain
