An anonymous reader writes
"While RMS is opposed to LLVM over its BSD-like license rather than the GPL, LLVM/Clang and GCC developers have agreed to try to start cooperating in an "open compiler initiative" to jointly tackle common issues that plague both compilers and issues that can be better served by working together rather than creating fragmentation between the two popular open-source compilers."
Re:RMS needs to get over the GPL
By paxcoder
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2014-Feb-8 20:29
• Score: 5, Informative
• Thread
Actually, no. You may use GPL'd code any way you like (that's freedom 0) and share with others (freedom 2). You can likewise modify the software any way you like (freedom 1). And all this time, you need not release source code. The condition to release the source only kicks in with freedom to distribute your changes (freedom 3), so only when there is a third person involved with your derivative you have to grant them the same freedoms you've been given by the original author.
In fact, this was a problem with SaaS: You could've modified free software, and run it in the back on your servers, and say that you're simply providing a service to the end user, and since he's not getting the modified program, he doesn't get to have its source either. This is what AGPL is designed to address, and thus it's mostly used for web software. So with AGPL, as soon as you use a program, whether you have a copy, or are executing it online, you get access to the source.
Re:RMS needs to get over the GPL
By martin-boundary
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2014-Feb-8 20:38
• Score: 4, Insightful
• Thread
On the contrary, that point is exactly *why* we GPL advocates advocate it. We don't want to enable companies which have no intention whatsoever to be part of the community. They're free to do everything themselves, and good luck to them. But giving them a leg up to get off the ground just so they can be selfish assholes with their ideas? Why should we? And yes, sharing your *ideas* and *implementations* is what we mean by being part of the community. If this isn't for you, then don't let the door hit you on the way out, thanks.
Re:RMS needs to get over the GPL
By mark-t
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2014-Feb-8 20:39
• Score: 4, Informative
• Thread
Neither the BSD nor the GPL remove (not can they remove) the aspect that copyright requires that a person must get permission from the original copyright holder if they are creating a derivative work of something copyrighted. In that light, both the BSD and GPL licenses essentially state that everyone who adheres to the terms of the license is free to create derivative works, thereby effectively granting such permission... but still only to people who adhere to the terms of the license.
Of course, the terms of the BSD license are pretty lax in comparison to the GPL... the former being not much beyond keeping the copyright notices in header files intact, while the latter license requires that the derivative work be released under the same license.
Re:The GPL is like the Slashdot Beta: Unwanted!
By Arker
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2014-Feb-8 21:30
• Score: 5, Interesting
• Thread
Except that you did it wrong.
BSD gives the author freedom, but screws the user. (1-1=0)
GP gives the author freedom, and preserves it for the user also. (1+1=2)
Really, this is simple math, there is no excuse for such a fundamental mistake.
Re:Open borders... one way?
By hairyfeet
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2014-Feb-8 21:40
• Score: 4, Insightful
• Thread
I'll get hate for saying this but fuck it, truth is truth and RMS burnt a LOT of bridges with GPL V3 so I wouldn't be surprised to see more devs moving from GCC to LLVM and Clang.
What RMS and his fans just seem to refuse to accept is a simple little bit of reality which is thus...this ain't 1979 anymore, no matter how many times RMS calls everyone "hackers" like he's at a computer club meting. The chips, the designs...we are talking about INSANE complexity folks, it is just not something "a couple of guys banging away in their basement" is gonna be able to do. What you have to have is dozens of highly skilled, highly trained guys working on this stuff 8-12 hours a day every day...the requires funds folks, no way you can get around that.
What does that have to do with RMS giving corps the bird with GPL V3? Simple...where do you think ALL that money was coming from? Donations by individuals? Nope that was all being paid for by corps whom RMS made clear aren't welcome round here anymore. with GPL V2 you had kind of a "wink wink" with the corps while GPL V3 has made sure that you had better be a GPLed company if you want anything to do with GPL V3 code. This is why Google has a "No GPL V3" rule with ChromeOS and Android, and I have no doubt you'll be seeing money dry up for projects like GCC, simply because companies will be afraid to touch it.
At the end of the day encouraging corps to open their code is fine, flipping them the bird if they refuse to go GPL? Not the smartest thing. We should be able to tell within the next year whether all the money is gonna go to GCC or LLVM/Clang, I personally think it'll be the latter.