Unfortunately, I believe the issue is not that Cygwin contains GPL code, it
is that applications which it compiles do. This is explicitly stated at
http://cygwin.com/licensing.html:
"The Cygwin API library found in the winsup subdirectory of the source code
is also covered by the GNU GPL (with exceptions; see below). By default, all
executables link against this library (and in the process include GPL'd
Cygwin glue code). This means that unless you modify the tools so that
compiled executables do not make use of the Cygwin library, your compiled
programs will also have to be free software distributed under the GPL with
source code available to all."
The exceptions mentioned are for applications which are themselves Open
Source. But, by their definition, I do not believe LLVM is considered Open
Source, because it allows someone to modify it and distribute the binaries
without the modified sources.
--
Regards,
Richard
-----Original Message-----
From: llvmdev-bounces at cs.uiuc.edu [mailto:llvmdev-bounces at cs.uiuc.edu] On
Behalf Of S3
Sent: 20 September 2007 21:51
To: LLVM Developers Mailing List
Subject: Re: [LLVMdev] Building with Microsoft Visual Studio
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> I am working on a port of LLVM targeting a proprietary VM. Thus far
> development has been under Linux and Cygwin. Cygwin licensing would appear
> to require that LLVM built under Cygwin would have to be released under
the> GPL, so alternatives are being investigated.
I am not a lawyer, but:
I think that you are misinterpreting the GPL.
Just because Cygwin contains some GPL software
does not automatically make all software it
compiles GPL. Compiling LLVM with Cygwin
does not change Cygwin's license.
So, you are safe here.
(The only way the GPL would apply is if you
were modifying Cygwin itself here, which you are not.
You are just using it to compile something else.)
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