Alternative to Newlib?

Question

I'm an embedded software engineer working with IA-32 type processors. We are looking for a compiler tool chain - preferable free.

We used to use Mentor Graphics CodeBench Lite but it's no longer available.

We have looked at other GCC distributions but none of them have a bare metal implementation of glibc. None except newlib but we can't use it because of the GPL and LGPL licencing issues. We're an OEM and our customers (and us) have proprietary code.

Any suggestions welcome.

Answer 1

Sourcery's "lite" gpl tools are still available, it's just that Mentor likes to play hide-the-link.

If you want a lightweight C library with non-GPL licensing, you might look at Bionic from Android.

However, you concern may be mistaken. IANAL but most C library licenses have a linking exception of some sort which you may want to research with the help of your lawyers - their utility as system libraries would be extremely limited without.

And actually, a quick search of the newlib licensing page (which is complicated) seems to show that more of it is under BSD-style licenses than under GPL-style ones, though care would be needed to sort it all out.