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=-0.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FORGED_GMAIL_RCVD, FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,3ec90d7920bdc8e8 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public,usenet X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news2.google.com!postnews.google.com!50g2000hsm.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail From: Maciej Sobczak Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Ada and licensing Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:32:03 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Message-ID: <1190032323.899346.97800@50g2000hsm.googlegroups.com> References: <1190014387.975202.55530@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 137.138.37.241 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Trace: posting.google.com 1190032324 6721 127.0.0.1 (17 Sep 2007 12:32:04 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 12:32:04 +0000 (UTC) In-Reply-To: <1190014387.975202.55530@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com> User-Agent: G2/1.0 X-HTTP-UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.0.12) Gecko/20070724 Red Hat/1.5.0.12-0.3.slc3 Firefox/1.5.0.12,gzip(gfe),gzip(gfe) Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: 50g2000hsm.googlegroups.com; posting-host=137.138.37.241; posting-account=ps2QrAMAAAA6_jCuRt2JEIpn5Otqf_w0 Xref: g2news2.google.com comp.lang.ada:1979 Date: 2007-09-17T05:32:03-07:00 List-Id: On 17 Wrz, 09:33, Tomek Wa kuski wrote: > 1. Can I use AdaCore's GNAT GPL compiler to produce propertiary > software? This is a good question and I will add some more twist to it. GPL really affects the result of the combination of your software with something that is already GPL. For example, if you use a GPL library (like Ada RTL), your code has to be GPL. But as many on this groups often stress, Ada is portable. That means, it is not inherently coupled to anybody's runtime library. If you write your program according to the standard (no GNAT extensions used, etc.), then it is decoupled from any RTL. You can *sell* the source code with some non-disclosure agreement and let people compile it on their own. How they compile it and what they link with is their business. You just sell the source code. Actually, you don't even need yourself any Ada compiler to do that (a text editor should be enough), although you might want to use some Ada compiler just to check whether your source code is correct. But the bare fact that you have *checked* your source code before selling it should not have any impact on how you license it. You can sell/distribute/give away/etc. the source code under *any* license you wish. It does not have to be GPL. Practical example: authors of Ada books distribute the source code for their examples (most often in printed form, just inside the book, in between the prose). Their programs don't have to be under GPL, no matter what compiler they used for checking it before submitting the book for printing. Another example: code examples that you can find on this group are not bound by GPL, even if their authors used GNAT GPL to *check* them before posting. In short: if you decide to distribute your software in the source form, then you are not bound by any licenses. You can invent your own. Note: distributing software in source form does *not* mean that it is not proprietary. -- Maciej Sobczak http://www.msobczak.com/