> but for some reason every single Linux distro that claims to love freedom has to do this too ... If I wanted to do the same with DWARF I'd need to link some G

> but for some reason every single Linux distro that claims to love freedom has to do this too ... If I wanted to do the same with DWARF I'd need to link some GPL library or write 10,000 lines of byzantine code to figure out which function called the one that's crashing. I mean, presumably you just answered your own question: while corporate software might not be able to link GPL code, Linux software — that mostly already is GPLed — certainly can. In fact, that's presumably why the library you're referencing (libdwarf?) is under the GPL in the first place — it was created by a Linux developer, for use in their own and others' FOSS Linux software, where it easily solves this problem for them. And because they have this easy solution to this problem on hand, they don't really see the need to turn on frame pointers in their projects' Makefiles.