Mail Archives: djgpp/1997/09/09/05:48:39
On Tue, 9 Sep 1997 04:29:46 GMT, Nate Eldredge <eldredge AT ap DOT net> wrote:
> >It has a C-language interface, so you can call the database functions
> >from a C program. The source code is "freely" available -- that is, if
> >you have US$100 to spare for processing. I don't exactly understand
> >OnTheNet's distribution policy -- they're willing to part with the source
> >(you can't resell the library source or binaries, but anything you make
> >is totally unrestricted) but they won't put it up on an FTP site, you
> >have to pay the so-called "distribution fee."
>
> Can they do that? If it's based on GCC, presumably it falls under the GPL.
Not so. It converts xBase code into C code and you compile it with a C
compiler. Just because you compile something with GCC doesn't mean that it
has to fall under the GPL.
> Because of that, you should be able to do anything you please with the
> source once you get it, including reselling it or putting it up for
> ftp. It seems odd that somebody hasn't done this already.
Somebody hasn't done this already because it isn't under the GPL.
> (rms would be rolling over in his grave, if he were dead.)
I doubt it, unless you know otherwise, it's well within the GPL to write a
product that uses GCC as the backend compiler.
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