From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue May 11 06:06:33 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EE45016A4CE for ; Tue, 11 May 2004 06:06:32 -0700 (PDT) Received: from smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk [81.2.69.218]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5D3EF43D58 for ; Tue, 11 May 2004 06:06:29 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: from happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk (localhost [IPv6:::1]) i4BD6LqB020014 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Tue, 11 May 2004 14:06:21 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from matthew@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: (from matthew@localhost)id i4BD6LbN020013; Tue, 11 May 2004 14:06:21 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from matthew) Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 14:06:21 +0100 From: Matthew Seaman To: "Hatteberg, David J non Unisys" Message-ID: <20040511130621.GA19755@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> Mail-Followup-To: Matthew Seaman , "Hatteberg, David J non Unisys" , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <452548B29F0CCE48B8ABB094307EBA1C01B3ED60@USRV-EXCH2.na.uis.unisys.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="ew6BAiZeqk4r7MaW" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <452548B29F0CCE48B8ABB094307EBA1C01B3ED60@USRV-EXCH2.na.uis.unisys.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.6i X-Virus-Scanned: clamd / ClamAV version devel-20040504, clamav-milter version 0.70u X-Virus-Status: Clean X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-4.8 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=2.63 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Question Regarding the Applicability of the GNU General Public License / GNU Library General Public License X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 13:06:33 -0000 --ew6BAiZeqk4r7MaW Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Mon, May 10, 2004 at 01:04:06PM -0500, Hatteberg, David J non Unisys wr= ote: > I just went to the FreeBSD website (www.freebsd.org), and went to the "Th= e FreeBSD Copyright and Legal Information" section. I see that two of the = possible links are to the GNU General Public License and the GNU Library Pu= blic License ("GPLs"). Yet, there is no reference to the GPLs in any of th= e other links (e.g., "The FreeBSD Copyright" pages, the "FreeBSD Ports redi= stribution restrictions" pages, etc.). In sum, there is nothing that says = why the GPL's are included as links or how they are applicable to the FreeB= SD software at all. =20 >=20 > Please advise why these are provided at the FreeBSD website and when, if = ever, they would apply to any use of the FreeBSD software. Some of the software supplied as part of the FreeBSD base system is licensed under the GPL -- examples are gcc(1), groff(1), tar(1), and many other utilities and shlibs. Sources for the GPL'd stuff can be found within /usr/src/gnu/ -- see: http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/gnu/ If you wish to create a GPL-free system using FreeBSD as a base, that is just about possible but you will have to take care to delete those GPL'd applications and provide BSD licensed alternatives. Unfortunately you really do need gcc(1) in some form to compile the system. Work is ongoing to make the system compilable with Intel's C compiler, but as far as I am aware it doesn't actually work yet. Simply compiling software under gcc does not force you to license it under the GPL, despite the inclusion of some GNU startup code (crt.o, etc) in any binaries. Cheers, Matthew --=20 Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 26 The Paddocks Savill Way PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Marlow Tel: +44 1628 476614 Bucks., SL7 1TH UK --ew6BAiZeqk4r7MaW Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFAoM/NiD657aJF7eIRArSUAKCBSsuw1//N33sZQcw0//aTUqsxugCgr7sJ YYBJVjU87JZqTc85DonXbTY= =O9mi -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --ew6BAiZeqk4r7MaW--