Is downloading and using Xcode on linux consistent with Apple's license?

Question

Am I allowed to do this?

I am planning to do some cross-compiling and I was wondering if this was permitted.

Answer 1

Apple would probably prefer you didn't, although whether it's actually legal depends on the text of the license (which I don't have in front of me, and no lawyer is going to give you real advice for free anyhow, due to liability issues), and the laws where you live.

However, all of that aside, I don't even know HOW you think you're going to do it. There are no Cocoa libraries for Linux that I know of that would provide a functional AppKit - there are some of the last vestiges of OpenSTEP floating around, but there's no way they even come close to providing the proper symbols for something as complex as Xcode. (You could look at Cocotron I suppose, but I think you're ultimately wasting your time).

Answer 2

I am not a lawyer.

Having said that, here's the relevant section of the EULA:

Permitted License Uses and Restrictions.

Developer Software.

Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, you are granted a limited, non-exclusive license to use the Developer Software on Apple-branded computers to develop and test application and other software. You may make only as many internal use copies of the Developer Software as reasonably necessary to use the Developer Software as permitted under this License and distribute such copies only to your employees whose job duties require them to so use the Developer Software; provided that you reproduce on each copy of the Developer Software or portion thereof, all copyright or other proprietary notices contained on the original.

So as long as your version of Linux is running on an Apple-branded computer, my armchair opinion is that it would be legal, though again, I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

Unfortunately, as Nick says, getting Xcode to run—the actually interesting part—would likely be more difficult than whatever it is you're trying to accomplish.

Answer 3

The Xcode IDE is a Cocoa application with related Cocoa frameworks and plug-ins, and requires Mac OS X. The EULA restricts it to running on Apple-branded hardware.

The underlying toolchain--gcc, ld, gdb, and the cctools--are open-sourced at http://opensource.apple.com/release/developer-tools-321 . They are available under a variety of licenses, generally GPLv2 and BSD. You can download, port, and run these on any OS in compliance with those licenses.

As of Xcode 3.2.2, Xcode's distcc implementation is not restricted to Mac OS X versions, so Xcode 3.2.2 will distribute compilation jobs to compatible versions of gcc running on any distcc host.