Re: MinGW Ada compiler licence question targeting commercial applications

[Georg Bauhaus <rm.dash-bauhaus@futureapps.de>]

Hibou57 (Yannick Duch�ne) schrieb:

> 
> What does exactly mean � derived work � ?

If you need to now this exactly (I guess, by exactly you mean
how to avoid being sued for violating licenses) you need to pay
a lawyer. Or become proficient in software licensing.

"Derived work", "Derivative Work" are technical terms,
as are originator's rights, copyright, etc etc., with
different meanings in different countries.
(Another issue is software patents in the USA; I understand
that Microsoft has patented a procedure to immediately check
the character typed into an input field in a GUI.  So beware of
calling Ada.Text_IO.Get_Immediate or similar if your software
is going to be used in the US ;-)


>> The MinGW compilers' licensing may be with a special exception.
>> Roughly speaking, do not change a line of code and distribution
>> of your derived work will only depend on what it depends considering
>> the licenses of all works used in your program.  Thess might include
>> Microsoft's redistributables etc.
> 
> I'm not sure I've understood line sentence � do not change a line of
> code and distribution of your derived work will only depend on what it
> depends �

If your application incorporates (or calls) Microsoft licensed
code, then Microsoft licenses apply.  With every Microsoft
programming tool set, you get a number of licenses, e.g. for
redistributables on which your product depends (and if you may
use these tools to build commercial software).  Read them.
  If your application instantiates items from
the GNAT library, and the GNAT library is the GPL edition
(not the MinGW edition) then, as announced where you got it,
(a) this may mean your work will have to be GPL work,
too and  (b) if your work uses other libraries in addition
to the GNAT libraries, then their licenses are not invalidated
by e.g. the MinGW exception or the pure GPL.