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=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,1efdd369be089610 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 1025b4,1d8ab55e71d08f3d X-Google-Attributes: gid1025b4,public From: dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar) Subject: Re: what DOES the GPL really say? Date: 1997/08/20 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 265611734 References: <5ph4g5$sbs$1@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu> <5pim4l$5m3$1@news.nyu.edu> <5ptv7r$4e2$1@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu> <5pu5va$64o$1@news.nyu.edu> <5qdof6$iav$1@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu> <33D6FA2B.9B7@ix.netcom.com> <33E00855.2BA7@ix.netcom.com> Organization: New York University Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,gnu.misc.discuss Date: 1997-08-20T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Ronald Cole says <> There is a very important difference between unwarrantied sotware and unreliable software, in fact the two concepts are pretty much unrelated, and I think this is probably clear to most CLA readers. There is warrantied software that is unreliable, and there is unwarrantied software that is reliable. ACT works hard to make sure that the publicly available vesions of GNAT fall into the second category. Occasionally, in the context of a specific customer with support, the use of a non-fully tested wavefront version to solve a specific problem is justifiable, however in our view, it would most definitely be harmful to have such versions wandering around. It would cause a lot of confusion, and result in a negative impression of GNAT that would in our view be harmful to the GNAT project. Some potential users of free software are definitely concerned, because they assume that the free software scene is as Ronald would like to paint it, with all sorts of people making changes to the software in an uncontrolled manner. The best way to think of ACT is to think of it like any other software vendor who is aiming at reliable releases. We test carefully, and release only when we think the time is right. We are no more about to distribute our modifications without full testing than any other company. The one difference, which as I have said many times before we are committed to continuing, is that GNAT releases will continue to be made publicly available. Yes, these public releases will lag a little behind the most super duper version available at ACT in some cases -- something that you could say about any releases of any software, but we think that even with this small lag, you will see GNAT technology that is significantly ahead of the proprietary competition. Yes, we understand that the enthusiasts around (like Ronald, but it would be a mistake to assume that all enthusisasts share all Ronald's opinions) would like to be able to fiddle with the latest versions of everything all the time, and do not care about reliability. However, this is not the market place we are addressing. The market place we *are* addressing is serious large projects needing support, and at the same time, consistent with this primary goal, we want to support the use of GNAT in teaching and casual use, since we think that it plays an important part in the continuing spread of Ada 95. We do in fact put in quite a bit of effort in making GNAT suitable for such purposes, and are delighted to see it being used widely for teaching at many universities, and also at the Air Force Academy. ACT has established a set of policies for handling GNAT releases that concentrate first and foremost on providing high reliability. The continued availability of sources will satisfy many other needs, though we certainly do not expect to be able to satisfy everyone's needs, and in particular, no matter how often and loudly Ronald (or others) yell, we do not intend to adopt a policy of freely releasing insuffiently tested software. I think that from our point of view, enough has been said in this thread which has not been a particularly productive one, and this will act as our final statement in the matter. If anyone is interested in asking specific questions about GNAT or the associated release policies, they are welcome to follow up with email questions to me, or to sales@gna.com as appropriate (oops that should be sales@gnat.com -- that's one word that should be spelled correctly, even if my T key is sticking!) Robert Dewar Ada Core Technologies P.S. we froze the 3.10b sources a few days ago, and they are now undergoing final testing. The 3.10p public release will be based on 3.10b, and will follow very shortly if no significant problems appear.