Subject: Re: [bug#54327] [PATCH 3/3] gnu: sdcc: Update to 4.2.0.

From: Simon South <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2022 04:17:32 -0500

Maxime Devos <[email-masked]> writes:
>> - See:
>> - 
>> + However: Many think that the Microchip requirement is not legally enforceable,
>> + arguing that the header files only contain noncopyrightable facts.
>
> This documentation change was not mentioned in the commit message.
> Could you give some context?

That text was added by the SDCC authors in the new version of the
software, not by me.  (This is a patch to an existing patch, so the
change here is actually to the text that surrounds the text being
modified.)

If you're asking for context on what the text refers to, it has to do
with header files bundled with SDCC that are provided under only a
restrictive license.  These are technically non-free and I'm attempting
to maintain a patch to SDCC that removes these files, the code that
enables their use, and instructions in the manual that encourage their
use (see https://issues.guix.gnu.org/44374).

As to the text itself, I didn't remove it because this didn't seem
necessary; I am trying to make as few changes as possible; and I am not
attempting to editorialize the SDCC documentation, merely to explain why
certain features are absent.

> To reduce the amount of patching required (and increase the
> robustness), perhaps only 'configure.ac' could be patched and
> 'autoreconf' could be run to regenerate 'configure'?

Yes, that's a better way of doing it.  I'll make this change with the
next update to the package.

-- 
Simon South
[email-masked]