Re: Cygnus Cygwin32 Press Release 1/21/97

[Geoffrey Noer <noer at cygnus dot com>]

Jim Balter wrote:
[...]
> Using gcc does not force people to share their source code (I don't
> think; see below).  cygwin.dll is not gcc.

Unfortunately (in my opinion), gcc and the cygwin32 library are more
closely linked (no pun intended) than might be ideal since libc and libm
are both in the dll.  Since the Cygwin32 port of gcc links against
libcygwin.a by default which is under the GPL license, it is my
understanding that programs built with it rely on the cygwin.dll and
must fall under the GPL terms.

[...]
> Cygnus apparently no longer shares the FSF philosophy towards
> free software.  That's their right, of course.  That it is a "problem"
> for others who also don't share the FSF philosophy that they don't get to
> both use Cygnus's code and hoard their own seems like a fitting problem,
> to me.

>From my perspective as a Cygnus engineer, free software is still very
important to Cygnus and will be for as long as we're around (hopefully a
while yet :-).  As Cygnus grows (as companies pay us for the work we do),
we are able to put more and more engineering hours into making free
software better.  I think this is great.

> > we at least have to be able to produce native binaries without cygnus's
> > library.
> 
> You can already do that with mingw32, so what's the issue here?
> mingw32 isn't a Cygnus project and isn't affected by Cygnus's decision
> in re cygwin.dll, I don't think.

As long as you do not link against the cygwin.dll (libcygwin.a), you should
be ok with respect to not being tainted by the GPL.  It is my understanding
that mingw32 allows you to build win32 applications that don't rely on the
cygwin.dll in which case you should be able to use it.

> Unless the fact that gcc itself uses cygwin.dll infects programs
> compiled with gcc, but I don't think so

Correct, the fact that the development tools rely on the cygwin.dll does
not cause programs compiled with cygwin32 gcc to be tainted.  As I
mentioned before, the thing to be aware of is that the library is linked
against by default so if you want to develop proprietary apps with the
gnu-win32 tools, you need to either:

1) obtain a commercial license for Cygwin32 from Cygnus, which won't
be under the GPL or LGPL.  This will allow you to distribute your
software without requiring you to distribute your source code.

2) use the mingw32 modifications and avoid the Cygwin32 library entirely.

*big disclaimer*: I am a software engineer, NOT a lawyer.  I believe my
answers to be accurate but they may not be.  If you really care about any
of this, read the terms of the GNU General Public License...

-- 
Geoffrey Noer
noer@cygnus.com