Re: [arm-gnu] Compiling Safety Related Systems?

[Mark Mitchell <mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

42Bastian wrote:

> I wonder, get commercial customers a version of the source, so that they
> can eventually rebuild a certain gcc (binutils etc). even after years ?

Yes, commercial customers (like Lite Edition users) do have access to
the source code for all components of our products that are covered by
the GPL or similar licenses.  That specifically includes GCC and
Binutils.  So, there is a form of insurance (against both the provider
refusing to rebuild old code, and against business failure of the
provider) there that is not available with most proprietary compilers.

Of course, rebuilding from source in a way that provides an identical
binary is very difficult.  We take great pains to automate and control
our entire build process so that we can in fact reproduce a given build
many years later, and we demonstrate that capability pretty often.  We
keep the binaries for all tools used in the build process, and we have
automated processes that build all of the tools in the package, test
them, and package them for delivery with no human intervention.  We also
enter into long-term support contracts with some customers to guarantee
support for a given version of GCC for a long period of time.

But, the bottom-line is that, yes, our customers get the source code,
and if they were to need to rebuild many years later they could do that,
provided that they have engineers knowledgeable in building these tools.

-- 
Mark Mitchell
CodeSourcery
mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(650) 331-3385 x713