From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Stan Shebs To: Andrew Cagney Cc: Quality Quorum , gdb@sources.redhat.com Subject: Re: gpl, gdb and wigglers.dll Date: Mon, 07 May 2001 15:21:00 -0000 Message-id: <3AF71F8F.8C15E1B2@apple.com> References: <3AF7038A.9080908@cygnus.com> X-SW-Source: 2001-05/msg00097.html Andrew Cagney wrote: > > [...] should GDB > even include the source to code that allows it to use proprietary debug > interfaces? I'm guessing, but I suspect that the current pratice has > been that such code should be included as it makes GDB accessible to a > wider set of users. At the same time, however, it also precluding the > possibility of a dll vendor directly benefiting by distributing a GDB > binary. I don't believe this practice violates the letter of the GPL, but it is in a gray area. The GPL says source code need not "include anything that is normally distributed with [...] the operating system". The wiggler dll is basically a driver for an addon piece of hardware, so one could argue that it is a normal component of the operating system for a PC+wiggler combination. In that respect it would be no different from having, say, an XFree86 that includes a special hack to use a Windows-binary-only 3D card driver, even when running on GNU/Linux. However, in retrospect, I made a mistake in deciding to include ser-ocd.c. The problem is that with an unspecified interface between PC and wiggler, and with the wiggler dll only available in binary form for certain platforms (correct me if I'm wrong here), you have the situation that the GPL was supposed to prevent, namely that you can't fix a problem in the driver, use it with a different operating system, etc. For instance, if I get a Mac with a parallel port, I can't use the wiggler I already bought, no matter whether I run LinuxPPC or OS X. Even a minor Linux or Windows upgrade could render my wiggler useless. So as a matter of principle, it would be better to remove ser-ocd.c from the sources and explain why. Perhaps the official deprecation will encourage someone to work up some free source that will work with a wiggler, much as was done for m68k bdm years ago (though never incorporated into GDB, sigh). Stan