gdb and OpenJDK

[Alexander Smundak]

According to two people I talked to (one of them is GDB developer,
another GCC developer with lawyer education), running Python code by
the interpreter embedded in GDB does not constitute linking, so
distributing Python plugin carrying GPLv2 copyright is OK.

On Mon, Feb 16, 2015 at 4:56 AM, Florian Weimer <fweimer at redhat.com> wrote:
> On 02/11/2015 11:27 PM, Jeremy Manson wrote:
>> First, gdb needed to be extended to support the ability to plug in a frame
>> unwinder.  The process of submitting this to gdb (which has been ongoing
>> for quite a while) is finally starting to make reasonable progress.
>>
>> Next, we need a plugin for OpenJDK.  We have a plugin written that calls
>> out to the serviceability agent.  (It's written in Python, per gdb's
>> requirements).
>
> Has the license issue already come up?  OpenJDK is GPL version 2 only,
> GDB is GPL version 3 or later.  Those two are not compatible.  It's
> typically fine if such processes communicate which each others over a
> pipe, but direct linking within the same address space might not be okay.
>
> I don't know enough about the technology involved here to say if this is
> going to cause any real problems, but I want to avoid future disappointment.
>
> --
> Florian Weimer / Red Hat Product Security