Re: Cairo bindings and e-mail license virus bombs

[Ludovic Brenta <ludovic@ludovic-brenta.org>]

David Botton writes on comp.lang.ada:
> The content of the e-mail link shout it change in the future is:
>
>> Many of the GtkAda source files contain the text of the GMGPL
>> exception; some do not. Are you saying I should not rely on the
>> presence or absence of the exception in the individual source texts
>> obtained from this repository:
>
> That's correct, headers on source file have no/little legal
> significance.  The main and simple message is that all the software
> available via the libre site, including svn.eu.adacore.com/anonsvn is
> provided under the pure GPL license.

AdaCore have changed this policy again very recently[1].  Now their
official statement is that files downloaded from their site are under
the license stated in the files.

Their previous policy ("everything is GPL") was in fact illegal; they
had embedded some non-GPL software into theirs (e.g. several years ago,
a copy of Berkeley DB was embedded in GPS) but they had, and still have,
no right to change the license of this third-party software.

So, I think their new policy is a big improvement.

[1] https://lists.debian.org/debian-ada/2014/10/msg00023.html

--
Ludovic Brenta.