From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,6781dc893d655ce9,start X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news2.google.com!postnews.google.com!i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail From: "flupp" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: How available is 'freely available' ? Date: 21 Apr 2006 14:26:51 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Message-ID: <1145654811.374659.43190@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 213.224.97.248 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-Trace: posting.google.com 1145654816 32412 127.0.0.1 (21 Apr 2006 21:26:56 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 21:26:56 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: G2/0.2 X-HTTP-UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7.10) Gecko/20050715 Firefox/1.0.6 SUSE/1.0.6-16,gzip(gfe),gzip(gfe) Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com; posting-host=213.224.97.248; posting-account=Lwp90A0AAACFPCXxenE5d4DXfE23834K Xref: g2news2.google.com comp.lang.ada:3887 Date: 2006-04-21T14:26:51-07:00 List-Id: Hello all, I am in the process of evaluating several (commercial) development alternatives. One option would have been to use Qt (mainly because of it's OS independence, less because of it's maintainability). Another option could be to combine Ada (mainly because of it's maintainability, less because of it's OS independence) with (L)GPL library Ada bindings. For this second option (i.e. using Ada), I really think the GPL GNAT could do the trick. But I am not really 100% sure about the legal issues when using it for commercial development: I *think* the GPL GNAT can be used for commercial development (as it is open source, and can be compiled from source), just as one can commercially compile C programs with gcc. But am I really correct in this assumption ? Because contradictory to this assumption, https://libre2.adacore.com/gps/ says : "the GNAT GPL Edition is licensed solely for Free Software development and is subject to the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License" ??? Do I see it correctly when I think I could use the (non commercial) GNAT combined with emacs and the GNU gdb ? Then again, there is Gate/Glide/Glade. Can these be used for commercial development ? And what about GPS ? I think they can all be used without problems ? On the other hand, I am not that sure about the possibilities in using the GtkAda binding. Even if GTK is LGPL'd, can the GtkAda binding be used 'as such' in commercial programs ? I have contradictory feelings about this, because it seems to be stemming from AdaCore (a commercial firm) that is also selling legal licenses, YET it is open source ... And what about other bindings, like there are e.g. the SocketAda, the POSIX, and the XML/Ada bindings (all from the same AdaCore, and the last one even also available in other bindings if I saw this correctly) ? So my incertainties resume to the following model (permit me to compare my questions to the GNU grep and PERL usage) : === If I compile grep, I can freely use it, and my grep doesn't care what files I grep (commercial or GPL files). If I compile PERL, I can freely use it and write any program I like and (eventually commercially) sell it. However, if I start using some (third party/commercially licensed) libraries from within PERL there may be licensing restrictions: I may be violating the specific library's author's licensing rules. ---- Similarly, if I compile GPS from (open) source, I think I can use it, even for developing commercial programs, just as I'd use gcc (provided I wouldn't want support) ? My compiled GPS's compiler doesn't care about what I'm compiling? I think this also applies to Glade/Gate/Glide ? But what if I use the GtkAda binding ? Can GtkAda / XML/Ada / PolyOrb be used freely in commercial programs ? If I leave them unchanged, can I just use these ? === I failed to find recent logs answering my questions. But the licensing restrictions I seem to understand from AdaCore's website conflicts with beliefs I encountered in several (previous) working places I encountered, and with which I am just now faced with (while evaluating development environments for own commercial use) ... Kind regards, PhB