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A major problem with the GPL from the point of view of a closed source software vendor is that you can't integrate it into a closed source project. Apple wante

A major problem with the GPL from the point of view of a closed source software vendor is that you can't integrate it into a closed source project. Apple wanted to integrate the compiler more deeply into their IDE, Xcode. GCC didn't allow that without making Xcode GPL too - which was out of the question. Apple has no problems contributing changes back to GCC or clang -- but there is no way they will make XCode open source. Clang allowed Apple to take their IDE to a whole new level. Since the move to clang, features like code completion, scope higlighting, refactoring tools and inline error display (with somewhat helpful autocorrect suggestions) have vastly improved. Apple didn't want to get rid of GCC out of spite, butthe restrictions of the GPL were holding them back. If you are a supporter of copyleft licenses, you'll see this as a success (hindering proprietory software), but from Apple's perspective it is obvious why they chose to support a compiler with a more liberal license.

rsynnott 12y ago
> A major problem with the GPL from the point of view of a closed source software vendor is that you can't integrate it into a closed source project. And a major problem with GCC related to the GPL is that it has historically resisted changes which would make it easier to integrate even into an open-source project, though it has eased up on this a bit lately (possibly due to competition from clang?) Still, there's a reason that code completion and other code-aware plugins for things like vim and emacs are increasingly clang-based.
adekok 12y ago
> A major problem with the GPL from the point of view of a closed source software vendor is that you can't integrate it into a closed source project. Commercial software usually has the same problem. Those dang companies won't give me their source for free, and they demand a license fee to integrate their products into mine! The issue with the GPL is less the GPL than the multitude of authors for any one project. There are many single-author GPL projects which happily accept money for a non-GPL version of the software. That becomes much harder when you have 40 authors, some of whom are dead..

rsynnott 12y ago

> A major problem with the GPL from the point of view of a closed source software vendor is that you can't integrate it into a closed source project. And a major problem with GCC related to the GPL is that it has historically resisted changes which would make it easier to integrate even into an open-source project, though it has eased up on this a bit lately (possibly due to competition from clang?) Still, there's a reason that code completion and other code-aware plugins for things like vim and emacs are increasingly clang-based.

adekok 12y ago

> A major problem with the GPL from the point of view of a closed source software vendor is that you can't integrate it into a closed source project. Commercial software usually has the same problem. Those dang companies won't give me their source for free, and they demand a license fee to integrate their products into mine! The issue with the GPL is less the GPL than the multitude of authors for any one project. There are many single-author GPL projects which happily accept money for a non-GPL version of the software. That becomes much harder when you have 40 authors, some of whom are dead..