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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Received: by 2002:a6b:2c48:: with SMTP id s69-v6mr14274701ios.66.1525374799520; Thu, 03 May 2018 12:13:19 -0700 (PDT) X-Received: by 2002:a9d:5c8d:: with SMTP id a13-v6mr1740817oti.0.1525374799361; Thu, 03 May 2018 12:13:19 -0700 (PDT) Path: eternal-september.org!reader01.eternal-september.org!reader02.eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!news.uzoreto.com!weretis.net!feeder6.news.weretis.net!feeder.usenetexpress.com!feeder-in1.iad1.usenetexpress.com!border1.nntp.dca1.giganews.com!border2.nntp.dca1.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!v8-v6no877155itc.0!news-out.google.com!b185-v6ni1072itb.0!nntp.google.com!v8-v6no877150itc.0!postnews.google.com!glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: Thu, 3 May 2018 12:13:19 -0700 (PDT) Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com; posting-host=47.185.233.194; posting-account=zwxLlwoAAAChLBU7oraRzNDnqQYkYbpo NNTP-Posting-Host: 47.185.233.194 User-Agent: G2/1.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: <9c3a75d6-a01f-4cfa-9493-10b8b082ead8@googlegroups.com> Subject: Precisely why can't official FSF GNAT maintainers copy bug fixes in GNAT & its GCC-contained runtime en masse from GNAT GPL Community Edition? From: "Dan'l Miller" Injection-Date: Thu, 03 May 2018 19:13:19 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Xref: reader02.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:51944 Date: 2018-05-03T12:13:19-07:00 List-Id: Instead of burying this 200 comments down into another thread, this is impo= rtant enough to deserve its own top-level posting: On Thursday, May 3, 2018 at 12:00:20 PM UTC-5, Simon Wright wrote:=20 > Not actually copyright, since (judging by the 2017 CE) it's assigned to= =20 > the FSF anyway. It's a licencing issue.=20 You do bring up an interesting point: because AdaCore appears to immediate= ly assign all rights to copy to Free Software Foundation the moment that Ad= aCore employees invoke the file-save function in their text editor in files= comprising GNAT and its portion-of-GCC runtime, it seems that only Free So= ftware Foundation would have legal standing to fully enforce the GPLv3-with= out-Runtime-Exception in GNAT GPL Community Edition. As a spectator in the= public audience not a party to any such dispute, it would be a fascinating= to see years or decades from now whether a maintainer of FSF GNAT who whol= esale copied nontrivial portions of GNAT GPL Community Edition into FSF GNA= T repositories would evoke the ire of FSF enough (while maintaining FSF's o= wn intellectual property in FSF repositories) for FSF to take legal action = effectively against itself. It is not clear at all precisely which nail Ad= aCore would hang its =E2=80=9Cbut it is ours all ours=E2=80=9D hat on=E2=80= =94apparently certainly none of the files that say Copyright Free Software = Foundation instead of Copyright AdaCore, Inc.=20 Please note that any official maintainer of FSF GNAT acting under authority= of FSF would seem free to declare that FSF is evoking its right as owner o= f the rights to copy GNAT to relicense any portion of GNAT GPL Community Ed= ition to which FSF has been assigned the rights to copy, adjusting the lice= nse for that copy from =E2=80=98=E2=80=A2without=E2=80=A2 Runtime Exception= =E2=80=99 to =E2=80=98=E2=80=A2with=E2=80=A2 Runtime Exception=E2=80=99 as = GPLv3 seems to overtly permit in section 7 Additional Terms =E2=80=9CYou ma= y place additional permissions on material, added by you to a covered work,= for which you have or can give appropriate copyright permission.=E2=80=9D = FSF and its official maintainers deemed to be working on behalf of FSF for= FSF-assigned/owned intellectual property [e.g., FSF GNAT] are the =E2=80= =9Cyou=E2=80=9D therein. The Runtime Exception would be the =E2=80=9Caddit= ional permission=E2=80=9D therein. AdaCore's irrevocable assignment to FSF= would be the =E2=80=9Cfor which you have or can give appropriate copyright= permission=E2=80=9D therein; FSF, not AdaCore, effectively owns it at the = moment of irrevocable assignment of copyright of that file; that is what as= signment means.=20 I am not a lawyer and have not passed the bar in any jurisdiction. I am sp= eaking for only myself in novelty-entertainment value for my own personal e= njoyment as a purely-hypothetical/theoretical logic exercise regarding my u= nderstanding of plain-meaning reading of English prose. Do not rely on any= of this without consulting a lawyer.=20