License information for libgcj

Tue Nov 25 19:57:00 GMT 2003

Hello all -
 I'm close to releasing an Eclipse plugin that I've written, allowing 
Win32 and Linux (GTK) users to natively compile SWT gui apps into 
standalone executables with one click. Before I do, I want to clear up 
some nagging licensing concerns that I have. I've asked about this on 
the Eclipse newsgroups, and came away from that more confused than when 
I started.
 Basically, my plugin consists of the following components:
(1) Unmodified binaries for the MinGW build of GCC/GCJ for Win32, along 
with unmodified binary for the compression tool UPX. 
(2) Static SWT library, build from slightly modified source... I made 
small alterations to support compilation with MinGW, and to support 
static compilation rather than a DLL-dependency.
(3) Completely original code making up the plugin functionality itself. 
Essentially, this code is just a glorified GUI shell script that 
compiles applications using the binaries included with (1) and (2).
 I'm not concerned with (3), because the code is original... I'm 
leaning towards declaring that portion as GPL upon release. I'm not 
concerned with (2), because SWT is covered by the Common Public License 
(CPL)... which, as I understand it, allows me to modify the library so 
long as I keep my derived work CPL'ed.
 However, (1) has me nervous. I know that you can use GPL'ed 
binaries without restriction through "fork" or "exec" calls (which is 
what my plugin does), but I'm concerned about linking issues. I'm using 
GCC/GCJ to build my modified version of SWT, which implies CPL'ed code 
mingling with non-CPL'ed code... and GCC/GCJ libraries will also be 
linked and used in compiling end-user apps. 
 I know that the C library is LGPL'ed, and the MinGW win32api library 
is public domain, so I *believe* both are safely compatible with the CPL 
for linking purposes (feel free to correct me!). However, I've been 
researching for the past two hours... and I CANNOT find a straight 
answer on what the license is for GCJ's libgcj. The website is 
completely silent on the issue (in fact, it's the only open-source 
project website I've ever seen that doesn't have a "License" link in the 
main navigation bar). The manual includes a cut-n-pasted copy of the 
GPL, but no specific text pertaining to the linking libraries. 

 I found information on the licensing for GNU Classpath, but that 
left me even more confused. For one thing, it's the GPL with a "special 
exception" that seems to essentially make it LGPL'ed (why do certain 
people hate the LGPL so much? do you really think calling it by another 
name makes it different?). Secondly, I don't know how the license for 
GNU Classpath and libgcj affect each other... since the two libraries 
are in the process of being merged.
 In fact, the ONLY place I could find mention of this was in the 
archives for the developer's mailing lists. The developers themselves 
seemed just as confused as I am, and half the conversation seemed to be 
borderline-flamewar fodder regarding Richard Stallman's temperment and 
personality quirks.
 Can anyone tell me what the exact licensing terms are for the java 
libraries shipping with GCJ, what the legal impact is on Java code you 
compile using GCJ, and whether the Eclipse plugin described above seems 
to pass muster with licensing issues? Thank you very much in advance 
for any input!
Steve D. Perkins
P.S. I'm not sure if this list is even the appropriate place for this 
next item, but I would very much like to submit a "feature request" 
asking that licensing info be given a prominent spot on GNU's GCJ 
website... preferable it's own page linked from the navigation menu, 
where the licensing information for executables and libraries is spelled 
out basically.