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  • What about commercial IDE companies making use of gdb in their software? Most of these IDEs are proprietary and yet they make use of gdb, how does that work? Commented Mar 18, 2018 at 2:40
  • Also, wasn't Apple shipping Xcode IDE with gdb binaries where XCode IDE wasn't open source but still making use of gdb? Commented Mar 18, 2018 at 3:04
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    @jd11: they are probably integrating it through command line invocation. This is all covered in the GPL FAQ which you should read. Commented Mar 18, 2018 at 4:00
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    "being a plugin" does not necessarily mean something is "an extra small feature", or vice versa. If the program and the GPL lib do some communication in a wrong way, the GPL might be violated, how "small" the feature even is. I think this part of the answer is very dangerous advice. Commented Mar 18, 2018 at 18:38
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    @whatsisname: but that's my point - a "plugin" may not trigger the viral aspectof the GPL, when it is clearly isolated from the main program by means of processes and/or communication. If the "feature" in the plugin is "small" or "big" is not only 100% subjective, but also 100% irrelevant for the GPL. Commented Mar 18, 2018 at 19:33