Two GCC stories

“The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) project occupies a unique
niche in the free software community. As Richard Stallman is fond
of reminding us, much of what we run on our systems comes from the
GNU project; much of that code, in turn, is owned by the Free
Software Foundation. But most of the GNU code is relatively static;
your editor wisely allowed himself to be talked out of the notion
of adding an LWN weekly page dedicated to the ongoing development
of GNU cat. GCC, though, is FSF-owned, is crucial infrastructure,
and is under heavy ongoing development. As a result, it will show
pressures that are only seen in a few places. This article will
look at a couple of recent episodes, related to licensing and
online identity, from the GCC community.

“Documentation licensing

“Back in May, GCC developer Mark Mitchell started a discussion
on the topic of documentation. As the GCC folks look at documenting
new infrastructure – plugin hooks, for example – they would like to
be able to incorporate material from the GCC source directly into
the manuals. It seems like an obvious idea; many projects use tools
like Doxygen to just that end. In the GCC world, though, there is a
problem: the GCC code carries the GPLv3 license, while the
documents are released under the GNU Free Documentation License
(GFDL). The GFDL is unpopular in many quarters, but the only thing
that matters with regard to this discussion is that the GFDL and
the GPL are not compatible with each other. So incorporating
GPLv3-licensed code into a GFDL-licensed document and distributing
the result would be a violation of the GPL.”

Complete Story