Re: [ROFL] GCC's GPLv3 "Updated License Exception"

[Hyman Rosen]

Alan Mackenzie wrote:
> The only other components in the executable will be "boilerplate"

No. Those components may include entire implementations of things
like formatting floating point numbers into strings, trigonometric
functions, calendar functions, and so forth.

> OK.  You're saying, I think, that this "boilerplate" code gives the
> boilerplate's writer some degree of copyright in the executable program.

No. I'm saying that the library code which is linked in to the
executable program continues to fall under the copyright of its
holder, and may only be copied under permission of that holder.
If you wish to make copies of your executable, you must have this
permission.

> the tool vendors don't sue me for royalties.

That's because no one would use the tools. The tool vendors give you
permission to redistribute their libraries when you buy the tool from
them, and that permission is explicitly given in the license.

> It differs from software, though, in that the cover isn't necessary for
> the book's purpose.  The "boilerplate" code is absolutely required for
> the program to work.

But copyright law doesn't care about whether your program works!
A broken program is just as copyrightable as a working one.