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 10.107.181.3 with SMTP id e3mr1470951iof.101.1523715189357; Sat, 14 Apr 2018 07:13:09 -0700 (PDT) X-Received: by 2002:a9d:4710:: with SMTP id a16-v6mr184829otf.4.1523715189205; Sat, 14 Apr 2018 07:13:09 -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!peer01.iad!feed-me.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!k65-v6no1133089ita.0!news-out.google.com!15-v6ni1411itg.0!nntp.google.com!e130-v6no1116728itb.0!postnews.google.com!glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2018 07:13:08 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: 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 References: <1388442297.545342755.856911.laguest-archeia.com@nntp.aioe.org> <5aea61e5-e795-4391-bcb6-4ba956cea394@googlegroups.com> <47b85c37-e84a-4b92-b1a2-ba7b11c49c3a@googlegroups.com> User-Agent: G2/1.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: Subject: Re: Ada-WinRT bindings - Alpha release From: "Dan'l Miller" Injection-Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2018 14:13:09 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Received-Bytes: 4460 X-Received-Body-CRC: 1124584788 Xref: reader02.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:51500 Date: 2018-04-14T07:13:08-07:00 List-Id: On Saturday, April 14, 2018 at 2:13:37 AM UTC-5, Simon Wright wrote: > Alex writes: >=20 > > I am happy to change the licensing of the bindings to LGPL and will do > > so over the weekend. >=20 > There are clearly different arguments to be made here, but since GCC has > deprecated the LGPL and instead allowed people who want to build > proprietary software using GCC (and, therefore, the necessary included > runtimes) by applying the GCC Runtime Library Exception[1] to their > libraries[2], I follow their example [3]. >=20 > [1] https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gcc-exception > [2] https://github.com/gcc-mirror/gcc/blob/master/libgcc/dfp-bit.c#L16 > [3] https://github.com/simonjwright/cortex-gnat-rts/blob/master/common/en= vironment_task.adb#L11 Simon, for a library implementation (e.g., GCC's C and C++ standard librari= es) that somehow is limited to only GCC, not portable to (or intended for) = other compilers and linkers and toolchains, then perhaps that is a valid li= ne of reasoning. But in this case, Alex's Ada-WinRT should be able to util= ized nonvirally with any non-GNAT Ada compiler that happens to support a Mi= crosoft build environment. Every conceivable non-GNAT Ada compiler now ext= ant or forthcoming in the future could easily trigger the Eligible Compilat= ion Process clause: =E2=80=9CA Compilation Process is "Eligible" if it is done using GCC, alone= or with other GPL-compatible software, or if it is done without using any = work based on GCC.=E2=80=9D Ada-WinRT is intended for WinRT DLLs, called components, which bring the va= st majority of .NET's framework to processor-native machine-code languages.= Microsoft is increasingly dependent on Mono to spread .NET to iOS and to = Android (and presumably Fuscia and perhaps Tizen in the future). It is eas= ily conceivable for Ada-WinRT to be applicable to this expanding Mono-based= footprint on non-Microsoft operating systems, as bindings are generated fo= r Mono and/or for Cocoa Touch's presentation in Mono and/or Android SDK's p= resentation in Mono. Conversely, Mono could conceivably now or in the futu= re trivially utilize some portion of GCC somewhere in its build process of = something=E2=80=94anything on which Ada-WinRT is downstream, even indirectl= y. This could trigger the =E2=80=9Cany work based on GCC=E2=80=9D clause i= n the Eligible Compilation Process, which would then revert Ada-WinRT's GPL= -with-Runtime-Exception license to full-fledged GPL. This sneak-in-the-bac= kdoor sequence of events years from now is specifically the kind of viralne= ss that is feared from the GPL, including the GPL-with-Runtime-Exceptions. LGPL does not have that potential vector of viral-ness at all. LGPL is saf= e for app developers. LGPL forces anyone modifying Alex's Ada-WinRT work t= o contribute those modifications publicly so that they get back to Alex. W= in-win. If FSF is all about freedom, then Alex is completely free and unfe= ttered to choose whichever license he thinks best, considering all these ra= mifications.