QNX Neutrino (new targets, GPL) (fwd)

[Anders Norlander]

On Thu, 6 Jul 2000, Alain Magloire wrote:

> Bonjour
> 
>   This was forwarded to me.  I'm not on this list.
> > >    I contacted QNX about their tools since it would be dumb to duplicate the
> > >    effort of porting the tools (and they probably have some knowledge that I
> > >    don't). But QNX refuses to publish the source code for the modified tools.
> 
> Who did you contact ? The src is made available on a per request basis.
> Things are changing and what you got yesterday maybe obsolete tomorrow
> so there is no point to make this widely available now.

I contacted QNX support about the sources, but I could not get them.

[snip] 
> "Distributing GCC for a long time"  QNX as been using Watcomm C, and the
> shift was done to GNU gcc for QNX/Neutrino and it is not even release yet.
> Maybe you are talking about JC Michot port of gcc for QNX and Neutrino
> 1.0 beta/alpha, then you take this up with him.

QNX/Neutrino 2.0 was released a year ago and this includes the QNX 4
hosted tools. The 1.0 alpha version you are talking about is from late
1996, although I don't know if this featured GNU development tools. The
Watcom compiler is only for QNX 4, not neutrino. Yes, JC Michot is the guy
that originally ported the tools, and QNX used this port to begin with (as
I understand it). The version distributed by QNX for neutrino 2.0 is the
JC Michot port. I don´t know what people in QNX have worked on this
recently.

Anyway, no sources are available from QNX or Mr. Michot. 

> > > If you have downloaded a binary compiled from GNU code from QNX, and
> > > they will not provide the source code, then they are violating the
> > > GPL.  You implied that you did that, but you didn't explicitly state
> > > it.  Can you confirm that you have done that?  Which binary was it,
> > > and how did you download it?
> > 
> > The binary is what is distributed with the QNX 4 and QNX/Neutrino 2.0
> > platform. Installing QNX 4 with development tools for QNX/Neutrino will
> > install gcc for QNX/Neutrino MIPS, x86 and PowerPC targets (depending on
> > what you choose). The versions are gcc 2.8.1 and binutils 2.9.1. I hear
> > the upcoming release of QNX/Neutrino is self-hosting but I don't know the
> > version of any tools used, but it is GNU tools from what I know.
> 
> You did not anwser the questions, Neutrino is not a release product,
> Contact again the point where you get this "distribution" and ask
> them for the src of the tools you need, because the src is not on an ftp
> site does not mean it's not available.  Maybe it's just a misunderstanding,
> sometime salesmen do not get it straigth.

I do not understand what you mean by neutrino not being a released
product, it certainly is: I have the installation/release media right
here. When I asked about the sources the answer was that no sources were
available, they had been handed to the FSF. I have not seen any source
code from QNX being contributed to binutils or gcc. There is some support
in config.{sub,guess} for QNX 4, but that is all (no actual code). QNX
still has the responsibility to provide sources for GPL'd software they
distribute, no matter what media is used.

My port of the tools is available at http://www.acc.umu.se/~anorland/nto/
for those interested. I'm willing to provide patches against the binutils
development tree for inclusion in binutils if there is any interest in
this. That, however, would seem pointless if QNX published their
modifications.

Regards,
Anders