In the context of Linux, think of the GPL as a joint development agreement, with teeth. I used to follow LLVM development. There was lots of mailing list traf

In the context of Linux, think of the GPL as a joint development agreement, with teeth. I used to follow LLVM development. There was lots of mailing list traffic of the form "I'll send you guys a patch as soon as management approves it..." followed by crickets. Basically, RMS was exactly correct about the impact that loadable modules would have on GCC's development.