Re: Licences

["Marc A. Criley" <mcNOSPAM@mckae.com>]

Lucretia wrote:
> After having waited absolutely ages for a GNAT from AdaCore, I was
> supremely pissed off that they GPL'd it, as the extra tools are only
> available through them. Now, I'm working on some code that wanted to
> (attempt to ;-D) make money on.

The GPL doesn't stop you from selling your product.  And for as much 
money as you want to ask and can get.

The GPL doesn't forbid you from requesting that your customer not 
redistribute your product (though all you can do is make the request, 
you can't legally stop them from doing so, all you can do is let them 
know you will refuse to support them or provide updates if they do).

If your customer doesn't actually link your product into their code, 
i.e. you're building an application rather than a library or such, that 
customer is not required to GPL their code.

If your product does need to be linked in, then it depends on whether 
the customer must use GPL GNAT to utilize it, or can they build and link 
using a differently licensed compiler/runtime?  If it's "vanilla" Ada, 
even GNAT Ada, then you can develop your code with GPL GNAT and release 
it under any license you want.  (The key thing is whether someone could 
utilize your product with a GNAT compiler other than GPL GNAT, if so, 
you're in the clear.)

The GPL does allow your customer to redistribute your product, though as 
mentioned above you can request they not do so.  (Ref: GNAT GAP and GNAT 
Pro.)

The GPL does require that you provide access to your product's source 
code.  (But if you were going to use the GMGPL you were going to do that 
anyway, right?)

For help on understanding what the GPL makes you do, and also allows you 
NOT to do, see the GPL FAQ at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html.

IANAL

-- Marc A. Criley
-- McKae Technologies
-- www.mckae.com
-- DTraq - XPath In Ada - XML EZ Out