[CLN-list] msvc support patch

[Michael Abshoff]

On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 4:16 AM, Bruno Haible <bruno at clisp.org> wrote:
> Michael Abshoff wrote:

Hi Bruno,

>> From the above I gather that you do not think that
>> the MSVC runtime falls under that since it isn't distributed with (at
>> least some versions of) Windows.
>
> Yes, this is one of the points. If someone states, for example, that
> the system requirements of his binary package is "Windows XP or newer",
> and relies on a DLL that is part of the Windows XP operating system,
> the GPL has no problem with that.

Ok.

>> My reading has always been that this
>> clause in the GPL covered compiler runtimes as well.
>
> ... *if* the compiler runtime are not shipped as part or together with the
> binary package. That's the second requirement in the GPL, that is necessary
> for the compiler runtimes exception to apply.
>
> Quoting GPLv2 section 3:
>   "However, as a special exception, the source code distributed need not
>    include anything that is normally distributed (in either source or
>    binary form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on)
>    of the operating system on which the executable runs,
>    unless that component itself accompanies the executable."
>    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Aha.

> Similar provisions are in the GPLv3: When you put DLLs into the same
> installer as GPLed software, they are not merely forming an "aggregate"
> (in the sense of the last paragraph of section 5 of the GPLv3), but
> rather a combined work, hence the GPL applies to these DLLs as well,
> with the consequence that they cannot be closed-source.
>
> That's why distributing mingw built binary packages is OK: They rely on
> msvcrt.dll (which comes with Windows) and libmingw32.a, libmingwex.a,
> libmingwthrd.a, libstdc++.a (for which source is available and the
> license is GPL-compatible).

Thanks for clearing this up. The next post answered my next question
how one could legally deal with the MSVC runtime..

> Bruno

Cheers,

Michael