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 10.42.200.206 with SMTP id ex14mr22184909icb.4.1415550567689; Sun, 09 Nov 2014 08:29:27 -0800 (PST) X-Received: by 10.140.17.69 with SMTP id 63mr3583qgc.10.1415550567552; Sun, 09 Nov 2014 08:29:27 -0800 (PST) Path: eternal-september.org!reader01.eternal-september.org!reader02.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!mx02.eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!news.glorb.com!r10no615173igi.0!news-out.google.com!m4ni0qag.1!nntp.google.com!u7no360885qaz.1!postnews.google.com!glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: Sun, 9 Nov 2014 08:29:27 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com; posting-host=50.138.108.48; posting-account=yiWntAoAAAC1KqC_shmxJYv07B9l6LNU NNTP-Posting-Host: 50.138.108.48 References: <30y7w.610628$Lj7.9801@fx22.iad> User-Agent: G2/1.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: Subject: Re: Newcomers to comp.lang.ada: welcome and how did you end up here ? From: David Botton Injection-Date: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 16:29:27 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Xref: news.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:23099 Date: 2014-11-09T08:29:27-08:00 List-Id: > Ada market today is essentially owned by one player. If Adacore will stop= passing > their work to gcc developers there is no more free in beer Ada compiler. Not true, they are not in a position to remove the GMGPL or GPL from their = software completely even when giving the false impression they could. They do not distribute their PRO version and I wouldn't ask their customers= to give out a copy, however every person in possession of a copy has the f= ull right to give away or even sell what they have, source, bin, everything= . So even though only one vendor customer positions are very secure and so is= the future of the compiler regardless of AdaCore. > There is no way to guarantee what is reliable for the future unless you > control all of it. gcc or Adacore can make license term changes unaccepta= ble > for you. They do so only to the capacity they think they can get away with it by put= ting out a pure "GPL" version. I question if in fact they have such a right= to encumber the runtime, but as I pointed out a above is irrelevant since = (besides that they themselves periodically give their run time to the FSF, = who actually has the copyright , for distribution) any customer is secure a= nd the community as a whole that the entire system could be taken over and = managed by the community or any other enterprising individuals. > They can stop developing. Nothing is assured. Even if you pay they > can always go out of business. It happened before. They do a great job so no one challanges it, but if they stopped others wou= ld step in. I would say that the compiler insecurity is the last issue Ada has to worry= about. (Easy to find GMGPL runtimes that are up to date, is real, but even that su= rmountable without having to ask someone to give you a copy). David Botton