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Re: How to add a new target in BFD?


wilson wrote:

> > The tool is GPL and in the same public cvs repository as binutils.
> > How can that be proprietary?  It even has a special exception for cgen
> > output files.
> 
> In the FSF sense, it is proprietary to Red Hat because the FSF
> doesn't own it.

Your understanding of "FSF sense" does not jibe with
<http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html#ProprietarySoftware>.


> Red Hat hasn't submitted the tool to the FSF because it believes
> that it gives them a proprietary advantage over other competitors.
> [...]

This is erroneous speculation.  The above thought might have been a
reason for not freeing cgen right after its development.  However,
since its release THREE YEARS AGO as free software, such a
"proprietary advantage" cannot exist.


> There is also the matter that it is FSF policy to avoid reliance on
> code owned by others.  FSF policy is very clear in this area.  [...]

Where can one find this "very clear" policy, and what does it have to
say about reliance on packages like TeX, Linux, Apache, and CVS?


> > > then at the minimum I think we need to move all *.cpu input files
> > > from cgen to binutils,
> > 
> > We're already doing that.
> 
> It hasn't happened yet as far as I can tell.  Also, not everyone has
> agreed to this yet, particularly the cgen maintainers. [...]

Right - IMHO we don't need to move the files.  It would be sufficient
to include a copy with binutils distributions (like gdb has been doing
some time), or perhaps to copy them.


wilson earlier wrote:

> [...]  Red Hat hasn't been demanding copyright assignments for cgen
> contributions.  [...]  This means that the current practice of
> putting FSF copyrights into cgen output is suspect.  [..]  Only the
> people who own the copyrights to the cgen input can contribute the
> cgen output to the FSF. [...]

...  and in fact this is what we've been doing so far.  AFAIK only
people who have FSF assignments for binutils/gdb have made relevant
contributions to cgen .cpu files.


- FChE


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