Re: Companies Only Offering Ada-95 Compilers

[Britt <britt.snodgrass@gmail.com>]

The "GPL Bomb" in this context is a "FUD".  I just downloaded the GNAT
FSF sources contained in the latest GCC 4.7.0 from gnu.org and looked
in the header of the system.ads and other runtime files.  They all
contain this:

-- As a special exception under Section 7 of GPL version 3, you are
granted --
-- additional permissions described in the GCC Runtime Library
Exception,   --
-- version 3.1, as published by the Free Software
Foundation.               --

which is the same as the file headers in the current GNAT Pro sources
(but different than the GNAT GPL sources).

The GCC Runtime Library Exception is here: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gcc-exception.html

It doesn't seem any different in effect than the older GMGPL runtime
exception statement except that the definitions and wording in the
full text of the new runtime library exception make for a clearer and
more complete statement of intent.  The key statements are:

"When you use GCC to compile a program, GCC may combine portions of
certain GCC header files and runtime libraries with the compiled
program. The purpose of this Exception is to allow compilation of non-
GPL (including proprietary) programs to use, in this way, the header
files and runtime libraries covered by this Exception."

and

"1. Grant of Additional Permission.
You have permission to propagate a work of Target Code formed by
combining the Runtime Library with Independent Modules, even if such
propagation would otherwise violate the terms of GPLv3, provided that
all Target Code was generated by Eligible Compilation Processes. You
may then convey such a combination under terms of your choice,
consistent with the licensing of the Independent Modules"