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I'd love to learn what accident you're referring to, Steve! I vaguely recall the FSF (or maybe only Stallman) arguing against the modular nature of LLVM becaus

I'd love to learn what accident you're referring to, Steve! I vaguely recall the FSF (or maybe only Stallman) arguing against the modular nature of LLVM because a monolothic structure (like GCC's) makes it harder for anti-GPL actors (Apple!) to undermine it. Was this related?

steveklabnik 2y ago
That is true history, in my understanding, but it's not related. Chris Lattner offered to donate the copyright of LLVM to the FSF at one point: https://gcc.gnu.org/legacy-ml/gcc/2005-11/msg00888.html https://gcc.gnu.org/legacy-ml/gcc/2005-11/msg00888.html He even wrote some patches: https://gcc.gnu.org/legacy-ml/gcc/2005-11/msg01112.html https://gcc.gnu.org/legacy-ml/gcc/2005-11/msg01112.html However, due to Stallman's... idiosyncratic email setup, he missed this: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2015-02/msg00594.html https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2015-02/msg00... > I am stunned to see that we had this offer. > Now, based on hindsight, I wish we had accepted it. Note this email is in 2015, ten years after the initial one.
- Philpax 2y ago
  Incredible. Thank you for sharing.
  - steveklabnik 2y ago
    You're welcome! It's a wild story. Sometimes, history happens by accident.
- matheusmoreira 2y ago
  Wow that is wild. Imagine how different things could have been...
- amszmidt 1y ago
  The only truth to the story is the missed email. There is nothing "unmodular" about GCC -- considering that it supports plenty of architectures, operating systems, and languages. The big difference, which people seem to miss in the context of the GNU project and GNU system, is that modularity is for free software projects. GCC is planty modular, and very easy to extend in any way shape or form .. if you abide by the license! If you want to be a parasite on a project licensed under the GNU GPL, you will have a rough ride .. that is after all the whole idea of copyleft.

steveklabnik 2y ago

That is true history, in my understanding, but it's not related. Chris Lattner offered to donate the copyright of LLVM to the FSF at one point: https://gcc.gnu.org/legacy-ml/gcc/2005-11/msg00888.html https://gcc.gnu.org/legacy-ml/gcc/2005-11/msg00888.html He even wrote some patches: https://gcc.gnu.org/legacy-ml/gcc/2005-11/msg01112.html https://gcc.gnu.org/legacy-ml/gcc/2005-11/msg01112.html However, due to Stallman's... idiosyncratic email setup, he missed this: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2015-02/msg00594.html https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2015-02/msg00... > I am stunned to see that we had this offer. > Now, based on hindsight, I wish we had accepted it. Note this email is in 2015, ten years after the initial one.

Philpax 2y ago
Incredible. Thank you for sharing.
- steveklabnik 2y ago
  You're welcome! It's a wild story. Sometimes, history happens by accident.
matheusmoreira 2y ago
Wow that is wild. Imagine how different things could have been...
amszmidt 1y ago
The only truth to the story is the missed email. There is nothing "unmodular" about GCC -- considering that it supports plenty of architectures, operating systems, and languages. The big difference, which people seem to miss in the context of the GNU project and GNU system, is that modularity is for free software projects. GCC is planty modular, and very easy to extend in any way shape or form .. if you abide by the license! If you want to be a parasite on a project licensed under the GNU GPL, you will have a rough ride .. that is after all the whole idea of copyleft.