Re: Bus error on MacOS

[Coda Highland <chighland@...>]

On Mon, May 6, 2013 at 1:36 PM, Jay Carlson <nop@nop.com> wrote:
> On May 5, 2013, at 10:33 PM, Coda Highland wrote:
>
>> On Sun, May 5, 2013 at 4:28 PM, Jay Carlson <nop@nop.com> wrote:
>>> On May 5, 2013, at 6:31 PM, Coda Highland wrote:
>>>
>>>> But the GPLv3 in particular is problematic for a company like Apple,
>>>> because while GPLv2 stuff can be used on an iPhone as long as Apple
>>>> distributes source, GPLv3 stuff cannot.
>>>
>>> No, Apple certainly *can* distribute GPLv3-licensed code on any platform. They have decided they don't like the terms offered.
>>
>> The statements are equivalent. From the perspective of Apple's prior
>> behavior, the GPLv3 prohibits Apple's use of it; from the perspective
>> of the FSF, Apple doesn't like the terms.
>
> I think it's a bad idea to hide that a choice is being made. "Apple can't use code distributed under the GPLv3" is about in the same category as "I can't buy an iOS device" or perhaps "I can't join the real ADC". Nothing is legally keeping either of us from doing so. I think people usually write "will not" or "can't because" in such situations.

Honestly, I think in Apple's case it really is "legally can't" due to
licensing requirements on some of the phone's firmware being
incompatible with the distribution requirements of GPLv3 software (in
particular, the requirement that libstdc++ has to be user-replaceable
seems pretty ugly for hardware vendors; last time I had to deal with a
vendor over firmware issues they were REALLY cranky about keeping
things as far isolated from GPL'ed code as possible, to the point
where I had to make a stupid little daemon solely for the purpose of
making sure it wasn't linked to anything else).

/s/ Adam