[LLVMdev] GPL licensing issues or can GCC be used with llvm for a commercial application?

[Mike Stump]

On May 13, 2008, at 10:04 PM, Razvan Aciu wrote:
> In our case, the communication means sending entire programs and  
> command
> line arguments and receiving warnings and error codes. Is this  
> intimate
> enough or not?

No.  Notice the lack of internal data structures.  The interface used  
is the defined by the language standard, the command line, and the  
normal compiler output (error messages and warning messages).

> I think we need a more authoritative answer here.

You'd have to ask the copyright holder, if you cared enough.

> - other guys understand GPL by strictly forbidding distribution of  
> the GPL
> product with a non-GPL one.

Each use can be different, different uses, different answers.  codec  
are not similar to gcc as a command line tool.

> - I didn't find any commercial projects (not Operating Systems or
> dual-licensed but simple applications) which package GPL  
> applications with
> proprietary ones.

Xcode does.

> For now, I think for a commercial developer who wants to create a  
> complete
> compiler toolchain using llvm, trying to package its compiler with  
> GCC is a
> very dangerous decision.

Yes, it is dangerous if you violate copyright.  Hint, don't do that If  
you don't do that, there is no danger.

Oh, and the canonical place to ask about GNU owned code or the GPL  
would be gnu.misc.discuss, this isn't the right place.