[est31]

> The Apple ecosystem is very closed and Apple will fight tooth and nail to keep it that way.

In general you are right, Apple is very adamant about keeping full control over their ecosystem (and locking users in). They even sponsor a C compiler project so that they can avoid gcc. There are exceptions though, like AirPrint which is a marketing name for open standard technologies: https://wiki.debian.org/AirPrint

[kitsunesoba]

The switch to llvm/clang was about more than just avoiding gcc… it was also about filling holes in gcc’s functionality. Swift for example is heavily rooted in llvm/clang because at least at the time, llvm/clang was capable of a lot of things that gcc simply wasn’t, and the arcane nature of gcc’s innards made it unnecessarily difficult to add missing features to. Of course, GPLv3 poses issues too, but that’s only a single factor among several in Apple’s decision to deeply invest into llvm/clang.