Hi folks,
This message is mainly a heads-up for Keith and Earnie.
I am planning to release the next version of TDM-GCC, based on MinGW's
Windows System Libraries (formerly "w32api" and "mingw-rt"; hereafter
"WSL"), with a prominently-displayed notice about license changes,
reproduced at the end of this email.
The new MIT-style license of WSL will infect every executable that is
compiled with default options (e.g. "gcc -o a.exe a.c"), where
previously a user could have relied solely on public-domain (w32api &
mingw-rt) and GPLv3+exception (GCC runtime) licensed library code. This
adds a new requirement of reproducing the WSL license with every binary
distribution.
For now, I'm not going to argue about whether or not the benefits of
this new license model outweigh its drawbacks. I'm not fully decided on
the matter yet. However, I do feel that the change warrants prominent
notice to TDM-GCC's users, and will proceed thusly. Since TDM-GCC relies
on the installation of the MinGW project's official WSL releases, and
since this change affects every user of WSL, I'm encouraging users to
file feature requests on the MinGW bug tracker or otherwise communicate
with you, the MinGW developers, if this change hurts them.
-John E. / TDM
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Hi! Sorry for the interruption, but you may want to take at least a few
seconds to look into some recent license changes for the software you're
about to install.
The MinGW project recently altered the license of their Windows System
Libraries. Parts of these libraries will be compiled into every binary
file (EXE or DLL) you create.
The new license requires you to reproduce its text in every copy or
substantial portion of the Windows System Libraries that you distribute.
This means that that even if you just want to distribute a single small
executable, created with a MinGW-based GCC (like TDM-GCC, or even the
MinGW official GCC release), you must include a copy of that license.
Check the license out in the file "COPYING.MinGW.txt", which will be
installed along with TDM-GCC. Consult with a lawyer if you have any
concerns about how you use this software.
Does this new license hurt your usage of GCC? Let the developers know!
File a feature request asking them to change the WSL license, at:
https://sourceforge.net/p/mingw/bugs/new/Send an email to the MinGW mailing list, at:
address@hidden
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