Re: Can I share GAP?

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

daniel.sangorrin@gmail.com wrote:
>
> I have read in the AdaCore website that the academical edition of gnat,
> GAP, has
> "The same license as the GNAT GPL Edition".
> 
> Does it mean that anybody can share it, for example, by putting it on a
> website?

If it is under the GPL, it can be freely distributed.  Though if you 
make binaries available, you must also provide access to the 
corresponding source code.

> If the answer is yes, why can't I find it on the internet?

The GPL doesn't require the creator of GPLed software to make it 
available on the Internet, *NOR to anyone who wants it*.

If it's not freely available on the Internet, that's because no one who 
has a copy has seen fit to distribute it that way.  And because AdaCore 
does provide support to professors that are using it in their classes, 
they _may_ be _requesting_ that it not be openly distributed (this is 
sheer speculation on my part), although there is nothing AdaCore can 
legally do to stop such distribution by anyone who wants to do it. 
(Same goes for GNAT Pro, though you never see those distributions out on 
the Internet either.)

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