Compiling with gdc vs. gdmd

[Joseph Rushton Wakeling]

> What went wrong here is that the Debian guys tried to package something as a
> system-level package when it isn't supposed to be. I don't really see anything
> wrong in the Waf dev trying to prevent this; not doing so is letting Debian
> shoot itself in the foot, only to come back to Waf later and complain, when they
> were already warned.
>
> So, I just think you should reevaluate what you're basing your decision on here. :)

It's not just the packaging issue that's at stake re Debian -- there's also the 
way in which the developer has played games with non-free licensing (not a good 
sign IMO), and the fact that the zipped-up code in the waf script contains an 
obfuscated copy that is not identical to upstream.

In fact, for Debian this was never about the packaging -- they only considered 
packaging BECAUSE the script included a zipped-up and obfuscated part.  See 
http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2012/02/msg00207.html and in particular the 
passage reading,

> This means that we are distributing files derived from the waf.git
> source code, but not the waf.git source code itself.  This is of
> course completely unacceptable in Debian.  (It is not a violation of
> the copyright on waf itself as waf has a permissive non-copyleft
> licence; but will be a breach of the copyright on any GPL'd waf-using
> package, because the GPL's requirements extend to the build system.)
>
> I suggest the following fix:
>
>  * Upstream waf should be packaged somehow.

As for me, DFSG compatibility is important, so I'm not happy using a build 
script that has these issues.  My code would almost certainly be released under 
GPL or AGPL, so I'd also fall foul of the licensing issues identified.

I don't think it's worth discussing this further -- I don't want to turn the 
d.gnu list into a big debate on Debian policy or licensing technicalities -- but 
from a gdc point of view I'd really welcome ideas on alternative build systems 
that work well with gdc.

(Sorry if this sounds like I'm making trouble for the sake of it.  I'm concerned 
because to my mind one of the principal problems for D was for a long time the 
lack of effective free/open source implementations.  I'm keen for D to be well 
integrated into the FOSS ecosystem, and that means considering other aspects 
than just the compiler, now solved very well by gdc.)

> (Not sure if you know, but Waf can do all of those.)

That's nice. :-)