Questions about Ada Core Technologies

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

Hi

I got some flak[1] about things I wrote in my draft Debian Policy for
Ada.  While I prepare Draft 2, I would like to get some information in
order to get some facts straight.  Here is a list of questions I have;
please answer them only if you have first-hand knowledge; I am trying
to dispel rumours and spread facts :)

- Will ACT make more "p" releases of GNAT in the future?  They told me
  privately they would, but has anyone else heard about a public
  statement from ACT?  Is it too much to ask for a release date or
  time frame?

- Have ACT really switched their day-to-day development to the FSF?
  The changelogs suggest so, in which case I can suppose they merge
  selected changes to GNAT Pro in their private repository?

- Will the next GNAT Pro be based on FSF's GCC, or on ACT's private
  repository?

- Does ACT recommend anyone switch to GCC instead of GNAT 3.15p?  If
  so, which version of GCC?

- Does ACT request that customers not distribute copies of GNAT Pro?

- Since GNAT Pro, as a derivative work from GCC, is necessarily
  distributed under the GPL, is the above request not an infringement
  of the GPL?

- Just out of historical curiosity, could someone send me a timeline
  of GNAT Pro releases?  Especially the ones after 3.15p went out: I
  heard about 3.16a, 3.16a1, 3.17w, 5.01?, 5.02? etc.  and I would
  like to know what version of GCC they used as a backend.

[1] I mean I got *friendly* flak, kind of like error messages from an
Ada compiler :)

-- 
Ludovic Brenta.