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From: Simon Wright <simon@pushface.org>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Thoughts on AdaCore maintaining GCC-incompatible GNAT sources
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2011 21:03:31 +0000
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"Yannick Duchêne (Hibou57)" <yannick_duchene@yahoo.fr> writes:

> If really clients are allowed to re-distribute, this is indeed
> surprising, I could never believe this could be really possible:
> users/clients allowed to redistribute and none doing so. May be they
> feel that's better to not brake AdaCore business (I am talking about
> earnings) so that they are assured of a regular and good job done at
> maintaining the compiler ? (I would not expect it from the “crowd”,
> but they must be some kind of special users I believe).

We don't in general pay AdaCore to get the latest and greatest; we pay
to get support when we have problems, or need advice, and very good it
is too.

The project I'm (still, just) working on is stuck with a really old
compiler, for various reasons I don't think I need trouble you with. The
general tendency is to start a project with the latest compiler,
upgrading until some formal customer-visible release point, then freeze;
only moving up to a new release after that when there's a really good
reason to do so. AdaCore are still prepared (a bit grumpily, maybe,
sometimes) to help; but really most of the time it's our understanding
that's the issue.

As to why we don't copy the latest GNAT Pro to the world -- well, it's
not I who has the contract, it's my employer, and I don't think I'd get
very far trying to persuade the boss to permit the copying.