GPL didn't stop Xcode existing when it operated around gcc. Xcode will always be an OS X thing, it has nothing to do with the back end compiler license.

Yes, they get a lot of mileage out of tightly coupling Xcode with llvm - eg: they don't have to write the same level of context sensitive language support for editing when you can do constant incremental compiling and inspect the state of the compiler's trees.

BTW; Apple use LLVM for far more than just Xcode. They used it in the display subsystem to run-time optimize code to the actual machine's display configuration.

Being GPLv3 is a bonus for Apple, but it's about more than that. Competition is a good thing.

It had a captive "guest portal" thingy on its own vlan it with a NSA/DHS style logo and "PRISM Data collection and monitoring node" and no other comments. It was under an outside roof overhang with a high power Unifi UAP-LR. It has line of sight from the hillside to a lot of houses. Associating from a long way away seems to be problematic but you can hear the beacons.

I'm a bit worried that certain people won't find it particularly funny so I tend not to leave it operating for long.

My cell phone is called NSA_PRISM too so I can tether with it for a laugh.

Well.. GPLv3 specifically. FreeBSD is stuck on GCC-4.2, the last GPLv2 gcc compiler. It's getting quite dated now. It's a switch from gcc-4.2.2+ hacks/patches to clang instead of a GPLv3'd gcc-4.6 or later.

"Stuck"? FreeBSD gets a foot in the door of companies where GPL (and GPLv3 in particular) is something they'd prefer not to deal with. Being able to use a modern GPL-free OS as a foundation of a product is a convenient option to have. And being GPLv3-free can be even more compelling.