Reply to: Are there still any V6 C compilers?
utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!wedel at UTEXAS-11
utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!wedel at UTEXAS-11
Wed Jul 22 07:06:31 AEST 1981
From: wedel at UTEXAS-11 (Wally Wedel)
The situation with respect to C compiler distribution has been
very confused ever since the Delaware Usenix meeting in June
1980. At that meeting Al Arms announced that a letter was being
sent to all UNIX multiple cpu and multiple system licensees to
the effect that a given licensee could define one C compiler has
its standard and then use that compiler on all its systems. It's
not clear how many, if any, of those letters actually went out.
Our site for one never received the letter although we license
every system for every UNIX version.
Many people interpreted Al's announcement to mean that C com-
pilers could be freely interchanged among systems. This was not
his intention and Larry Isely came to San Francisco to clarify
and re-emphasize that a V6-only licensee could NOT run a version
7 C compiler legally.
This situation is a real problem for Usenix distributions because
our records indicate that many commercial users in particular
choose to buy a V6 license rather than a V7 license because of
the expense. The Usenix Board is considering writing a letter to
Western requesting that the pcc compiler for the PDP-11 be avail-
able under a separate license to try to address some of the prob-
lems you raise. I don't know what our success rate will be given
Western's slooooooow response to anything these days.
The bottom line for now is that V6 licensees can't legally run a
V7 compiler unless they have received the letter from Western al-
lowing them to do so on the basis of other licenses within the
organization.
Sorry to be so windy on this but it's a messy issue indeed!
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