[fpc-devel] Delphi XE2 uses FPC for iOS target

[Dimitri Smits]

----- "Graeme Geldenhuys" <graemeg.lists at gmail.com> schreef:

> Florian, has anybody from Embarcadero approached you on this?  I
> wonder if they know that any modifications they make to the FPC
> compiler must be made available as open-source? The compiler is
> GPL'ed
> after all.

contrary to popular belief, it is not so that if you GPL something, everyone gets your source (ie: the community; by way of "give back"). If you take a open source project ((L)GPL that is, not talking about MPL/MIT/BSD/...), and you modify it, then sell it, the licence does not require you to give away the source to everyone! Only to your customers(/competitors) who bought the program!

Likewise, when you take such a project with such a licence, maybe even straight GPL, and modify it, but only use it in-house, then you owe nobody anything. (since the source is handed over to the client, ie: yourself)

btw, I even believe that you can devise a licence that is GPL compatible (copyleft), but that disallows redistribution/resell. Like a bit of an NDA. 

kind regards,
Dimitri Smits