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LLVM is because they don’t want GPLv3. They just went ahead with a stack where they can be in control on their own terms. Basically GNU gambled and lost, they
by tinus_hn 3y ago
LLVM is because they don’t want GPLv3. They just went ahead with a stack where they can be in control on their own terms.
Basically GNU gambled and lost, they wanted to make a big stand against software patents and some other powerful forces had different opinions.
- kitsunesoba 3y agoGPL v3 is part of it, but as I understand, back when the decision was made GCC was rather inflexible compared to LLVM/Clang which was also a big factor.
- GeekyBear 3y ago> LLVM is because they don’t want GPLv3. LLVM and Clang are also about having a compiler stack that provides the information you need for a modern graphical IDE. For instance, GCC had made some decisions that made it difficult to point to which line of code caused a particular error message. Apple's Chris Lattner covered this in a 2007 tech talk he gave at Google introducing LLVM and the (then) new Clang project. https://youtu.be/VeRaLPupGks?t=1133 https://youtu.be/VeRaLPupGks?t=1133
- ori_b 3y ago> LLVM and Clang are also about having a compiler stack that provides the information you need for a modern graphical IDE. Is that why all GNU utilities shipped with OSX were also stuck at the GPLv2 versions and never upgraded?
- cdcarter 3y agoNo. That's why LLVM and Clang were developed.
- tambourine_man 3y agoYes. Apple won’t use GPLv3. Some things have good replacements with other licenses, like zsh. Others, AFAIK, don’t, like rsync.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Longlius 3y agoI believe LLVM was chosen because it was easier to make new compilers to work with it. GCC's intermediate representation was a bit of a mess for a long time and from what I understand, Apple did not find GCC's Objective-C support to be satisfactory.