Hello bearophile,
Leandro Lucarella:
Yes, I don't think "copying with 'cosmetic changes'" works, legally
speaking. Otherwise everybody would be doing it.
If 10% of changes is not legally enough, they LLVM dev can copy it and
then change the 15% of it or even 20%. There must exist a minimum
amount of differences between two blocks of code that allows them to
be legally considered different, otherwise GNU is worse than a
software patent.
The fact that you started with GNU code it the important thing: the original
file is under GNU, so the file after the very first edit (one key stroke)
is also under GNU and because it is, so is the file after the second edit,
etc. etc.
If you started with a blank file and ended up with something that (after
ignoring formatting) was 50% similar to some GNU code, you might be able
to get away with it as long as you've never looked at the other code, but
I wouldn't bet on it.
--
... <IXOYE><
