[Request for clarification] bin2hex license

[slaeshjag]

A custom utility built inside the binutils tree, bin2hex ( https://github.com/chipKIT32/chipKIT-cxx/blob/master/src45x/binutils/binutils/bin2hex.c ) is missing license information inside the file.

Since binutils is GPL, and bin2hex is linked statically with part of the binutils tree, it is implied that bin2hex is also GPL, is this how ChipKit intended? Or is just the general license file for the whole tree implied?

The prefered solution would be to explicitly state the license inside the file to avoid confusion, as it is not a utility found in any official binutils distribution.

[JacobChrist]

I am only one person and a pretty minor figure in the development effort but from what I understand the most people on the chipKIT team lean towards the least restrictive licensing possible. That is to say something like BSD, MIT or Apache. Where necessary we want to comply with a more restive license like GPL.

If the license is explicitly stated as you suggest do you think the static linking with a GPL file is an issue?

[slaeshjag]

After some more research we did find bin2hex in Microchip's XC32 source distribution that they have marked as "GPL," so a reasonable assumption would be that bin2hex is GPL.