Re: [fink-core] Running Octave from Fink?

[Ben Abbott]

On Nov 13, 2012, at 7:29 PM, Sergei Steshenko wrote:

>> On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 12:44 AM, Sergei Steshenko <address@hidden> wrote:
>> 
>>> "it allows linking with other files which may be entirely proprietary" - so 
>>> what ? Does, for example, BSD license impose limitations on linking ? Or 
>>> Apache license ?
>>> 
>>> "it is not compatible with GPL" - we've already beaten that dead horse to 
>>> sub-elementary particles, ans the _solution_ (from end user point view) is:
>>> 
>>> build from sources locally and do not distribute the binary.
>>> 
>>> GPL is not an issue/a cause to fight for, end user benefits are.
>>> 
>>> Regards,
>>>   Sergei.
>> 
>> I don't think build-from source locally is acceptable in the general case. 
>> Some very useful machines don't self-host eg.iPad, and besides 
>> build-from-source creates an interesting chicken and egg issue with machines 
>> with no compiler on them :)
>> 
>> Edmund
> 
> "chicken and egg issue with machines with no compiler on them" - there is no 
> problem. GNU software was originally compiled using proprietary compilers.
> 
> ...
> 
> Maybe this: http://bellard.org/tcc/ is good enough to bootstrap 'gcc'. And 
> maybe it can be easily ported to, say, MacOS or iOS.

We already have gcc on MacOS X.  I have gcc 4.2, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6 and 4.7 
installed on my Mac.

The problem on MacOS X is the APSLv2 include files needed to access system 
libraries.

Ben