Re: Questions on proprietary program using gcc libraries

[Martin Dickopp]

David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> writes:

> "jim.brown" <jim.brown@mindspring.com> writes:
>
>> I've searched this forum and did not find any guidance.
>> 
>> I am building a proprietary shared library with gcc. The normal
>> C++ runtime routines (memcpy etc.) are dynamically linked.

"memcpy" is not part of the C++ standard library, but part of the
C standard library.  Which license applies to the latter is likely
different on the two systems mentioned.  The GNU C library, found
on GNU/Linux systems, is under the LGPL, but I have no idea how the
Solaris C library is licensed.

> I am assuming that all libraries in question are under the LGPL.

Not all of them are.  Jim, could you please find out what licenses apply
to the libraries in question?  You can then ask specific questions if
any of them is still unclear to you.

Most of the GNU C++ STL seems to be under the GPL, with the following
exception clause added:

// As a special exception, you may use this file as part of a free software
// library without restriction.  Specifically, if other files instantiate
// templates or use macros or inline functions from this file, or you compile
// this file and link it with other files to produce an executable, this
// file does not by itself cause the resulting executable to be covered by
// the GNU General Public License.  This exception does not however
// invalidate any other reasons why the executable file might be covered by
// the GNU General Public License.

I vaguely recall that the gcc runtime library (libgcc_s.so.1) is also
under one of the GNU licenses plus a (different) exception clause.

Finally, the archive of the gcc mailing lists contains some license
discussion specific to gcc, so you (Jim) could search there if it
already contains the answers to your questions.

Martin