Re: can one build commercial applications with latest gnat and other licenses related questions...

[M E Leypold <development-2006-8ecbb5cc8aREMOVETHIS@ANDTHATm-e-leypold.de>]

Hi George,

> > I dare say if one follows an argument
> > based on a definition that freedom is absence of lock-ins and
> > dependencies (...) and ask where and when dependencies arise, one
> > would come to a different result.
> 
> The GPL is a deliberate choice that deliberately ignores arguments
> that (have to) prefer independence of the GPL terms.

As I said, im not interested in continuing that discussion. But for
the record I find it necessary to state that the "dependencies" I have
been talking about are not "dependencies from the GPL" but
dependencies from vendor decisions. I've been talking about library
licenses specfically and the vendor decision I'm refering to is of
course the (not very well documented) stripping of a linking exception
from the license.

This is not a personal complaint, just the observation, that people
might be a tad surprised after relying on (continued) GMGPL for GtkAda
(continued because a change in free software licensing is rather
unusual) that the license actually changed a long time ago (which
seems not to be common knowledge). Here is a vendor decision that
influences not only the future but also the present standing of a
project (be it commercial or free in any sense). In my book that
spells "dependency". Freedom can be taken back: Not only in the
future, but also in the present.

How that does impact my work should not be your concern, so please
spare me any advice of the kind "I think that your business's need
(...)". I'll cope, but I dare to say that the community will be
slightly surprised. Which illustrates my point rather well.

Regards -- Markus