On 14/07/2014 3:21 p.m., dcoder wrote:
I am not sure if this is the right place to be posting a question
on licensing, but hopefully so...
I wonder if someone can explain the implications of using the dmd
compiler which has (if my understanding is correct) a proprietary
backend; how might this affect the commercial distribution of a
project?
So far the most concise explanation that I have been able to find
is from a blog post from almost two years ago entitled
'Dispelling Common D Myths':
Published 2012-10-10 00:58 by Abscissa in Coding
The only thing that isn't strictly OSS is the backend of DMD, because
the rights are
licensed from Symantec. But the source for it is publicly available on
GitHub and open
for pull requests. Worried about redistribution? Don't be: Just ask
Walter. He may be
under obligation to require his permission, but it's only a
technicality. Ask him, and
he'll grant permission. He hasn't been known not to. And note, that's
only for DMD,
and specifically DMD's backend. Everything else is fully-OSS including
two complete D
compilers: GDC and LDC.
Unfortunately, this is still not clear enough for me, and also
not very reassuring.
If I compile a project down to an executable by way of dmd, then
would I need permission to distribute that executable as a
commercial project?
Redistribution in this case was about dmd, not its output. However I'm
sure Walter will confirm this.
