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=1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID, LOTS_OF_MONEY,MSGID_RANDY autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,577c9f9c0cdd76d X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: Robert Dewar Subject: Re: Help help.. please.i am totaly new in ada programing Date: 1999/11/03 Message-ID: <7vqh79$lnv$1@nnrp1.deja.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 544101176 References: <7vq4c5$7gn$1@news-hrz.uni-duisburg.de> X-Http-Proxy: 1.0 x22.deja.com:80 (Squid/1.1.22) for client 205.232.38.14 Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy. X-Article-Creation-Date: Wed Nov 03 23:41:29 1999 GMT X-MyDeja-Info: XMYDJUIDrobert_dewar Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada X-Http-User-Agent: Mozilla/4.04 [en] (OS/2; I) Date: 1999-11-03T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article , tmoran@bix.com wrote: > Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I understand that "free software" > in Stallman's sense puts very definite restrictions on what > you can do with the source code. Yes, you are mistaken. The whole point with free software is that *you* can do anything you want with the software for your own use, including doing anything with the sources. The only restrictions come when you want to give the software to someone else, in that case, the one and only one restriction which I, as the copyright holder, insist on, is that if you modify my work, and then distribute it, you must distribute it under no more restrictive conditions than I gave it to you. The GPL never makes anyone distribute anything under any circumstances, and does not restrict what you can charge for anything, or in any way dictate distribution policies. The only restrictions are that the source must go along with the program if you distribute the program, and you cannot charge an arm and a leg extra for the source (because unaffordable sources is equivalent to no sources). Of course, that might mean restrictions on using libraries, for example, the freely available version of Cygwin is GPL'ed, which means it cannot be included in a proprietary program that you distribute. But you can still use it for your own internal purposes anyway you like. In the case of GNAT, we have chosen an even less restrictive license for the run-time, which does mean that you can include the GNAT runtime in proprietary programs. The only thing you cannot do is to make your own version of GNAT and make it proprietary. For example, if Tom Moran's company wanted to maintain and market a competitive version of GNAT (buy your GNAT here! far better than any other versions available!) then they most certainly could do so, but they could not make it into a proprietary product distributed without the sources. RObert Dewar Ada Core Technologies Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.