[Bug 523715] Review Request: logiweb - a system for electronic distribution of mathematics

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https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=523715

--- Comment #10 from Klaus Grue <grue at diku.dk> 2010-01-16 11:39:16 EST ---
> Umm... I don't know if we can say src/pages.c is
> actually a source code... It seems it is very hard
> to modify this file manually.

src/pages.c is not source code. It is compiled code
which has been run through xxd so it is, in effect,
a pre-built binary. That is not allowable according
to https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:Guidelines :
Section 1.4: No inclusion of pre-built binaries or libraries
was it not for the exceptions in Section 1.4.1.

> If this file generated by some other program or so?

Yes.
pages.c of Logiweb-0.2.6 is generated by Logiweb-0.2.5
pages.c of Logiweb-0.2.5 is generated by Logiweb-0.2.4
pages.c of Logiweb-0.2.4 is generated by Logiweb-0.2.3
and so on.

However, generating pages.c of Logiweb-0.2.6 by
compiling and installing all previous versions of
Logiweb one by one could be tedious. For that reason,
I have made a backport in the form of Logiweb-0.1.10.
Logiweb-0.1.10 contains no pre-built binaries. It can
be compiled using the open source CLISP system.

pages.c of Logiweb-0.2.6 can be generated by Logiweb-0.1.10.

Finally, pages.c of Logiweb-0.2.6 can be generated by
Logiweb-0.2.6 itself. The versions of pages.c generated
by Logiweb-0.1.10, Logiweb-0.2.5, and Logiweb-0.2.6
are byte identical.

The problem here is that the Logiweb compiler lgc is
written in the Logiweb programming language lgs. So one
needs a Logiweb compiler in order to compile the
Logiweb compiler.

The gcc compiler has the same problem: gcc is written in C.
To compile gcc, one needs a C-compiler. Typically, gcc
is compiled using the previous version of gcc.

Now, what is src/pages.c? That is quite simple. It is
a compiled version of the Logiweb compiler version 0.2.6.
That compiled version is able to run on the Logiweb abstract
machine (lgwam) and it is able to compile itself.

So why can Logiweb-0.2.6 claim to be open source? Well,
my claim is that since Logiweb-0.1.10 is open source
and can be compiled by the open source CLISP system and is
able to generate pages.c of Logiweb-0.2.6, then Logiweb-0.2.6
is open source. I think that is what is covered by
Section 1.4.1 of https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:Guidelines

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