[Mesa-dev] [PATCH 1/2] build: Use AX_PTHREAD to detect pthreads

[Matt Turner]

On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 12:35 AM, Kenneth Graunke <kenneth at whitecape.org> wrote:
> On 09/24/2012 09:48 AM, Matt Turner wrote:
>> ---
>> I think we should offload configure.ac library/header/program detection
>> to macros available from the autoconf archive wherever possible.
>
> Yeah, that seems like a good idea to me too.  But...
>
>> +# LICENSE
>> +#
>> +#   Copyright (c) 2008 Steven G. Johnson <stevenj at alum.mit.edu>
>> +#   Copyright (c) 2011 Daniel Richard G. <skunk at iSKUNK.ORG>
>> +#
>> +#   This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it
>> +#   under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
>> +#   Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your
>> +#   option) any later version.
>
> This isn't a permissive license like the rest of Mesa.  Is that going to
> be a problem?  I mean, it's just the build system, but I know people
> tend to freak out about these things, especially this particular license.

I think it won't. ax_pthreads.m4 like the rest of autoconf contains a
special exception, found in the original email but reproduced below:

> +#   As a special exception, the respective Autoconf Macro's copyright owner
> +#   gives unlimited permission to copy, distribute and modify the configure
> +#   scripts that are the output of Autoconf when processing the Macro. You
> +#   need not follow the terms of the GNU General Public License when using
> +#   or distributing such scripts, even though portions of the text of the
> +#   Macro appear in them. The GNU General Public License (GPL) does govern
> +#   all other use of the material that constitutes the Autoconf Macro.
> +#
> +#   This special exception to the GPL applies to versions of the Autoconf
> +#   Macro released by the Autoconf Archive. When you make and distribute a
> +#   modified version of the Autoconf Macro, you may extend this special
> +#   exception to the GPL to apply to your modified version as well.

The output of ax_pthreads.m4 would be shipped in the generated
configure script, but it's not subject to the GPL, per the exception.
Any binary distribution of Mesa wouldn't include ax_pthreads.m4 (so
the GPL need not apply).