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 Path: eternal-september.org!reader01.eternal-september.org!reader02.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!mx02.eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!aioe.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Luther Bogart Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: What exactly is the licensing situation with GNAT? Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 07:53:29 +0000 (UTC) Organization: Aioe.org NNTP Server Message-ID: References: <87fvdr2vdv.fsf@adaheads.sparre-andersen.dk> <54609F34.4080201@spam.spam> <35f01472-3510-4f67-8765-006fa8591c35@googlegroups.com> <9tc8w.73007$ZT5.37595@fx07.iad> <22a3816a-4e89-48f0-a126-dce581781beb@googlegroups.com> <084b1934-9641-425e-85ec-293e0334413e@googlegroups.com> <86bf69c8-eb08-4696-b6c9-3784f5c42213@googlegroups.com> <87389olqie.fsf@ixod.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: /73E1exqNyif7fBAZXl+/w.user.speranza.aioe.org X-Complaints-To: abuse@aioe.org X-Notice: Filtered by postfilter v. 0.8.2 Xref: news.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:23217 Date: 2014-11-13T07:53:29+00:00 List-Id: On 2014-11-13, Hubert wrote: >> Unfortunately, if it is like most of David's other software, it won't work >> on other Ada compilers. (That is a common problem, not really picking on >> David here, a lot of supposedly Ada software is really GNAT software.) That >> locks you into GNAT, and as you note, the costs for getting regular support >> for GNAT are not really affordable. > > Let's face it: Gnat is the only compiler out there that has any chance > of making it to mainstream market. I contacted the other two vendors of > Ada compilers (forgot the names, I refer to them internally as the green > and the silver/blue website). they dont have prices on their sites, have > cool pics of fighter jets and only support up to Ada 95. I wanted to ask > for prices, evaluation version and I didn't even get a response, so I > guess unless you have "IBM" or "Pentagon" in your email domain, they > don't even read your email. I have had similar experiences and said so here over the years. I even called and got the guy to laugh at me over the phone for the price of a long distance call (no distributor here). But they can't sell it to IBM since IBM already has Ada they bought from Rational. IBM previously sold off their Ada 370 version to a company in Virginia. Those people are a lot more personable (and reasonable) but you still have to take out a second mortgage if you want to use Ada. Anyway I don't agree with you thaht GNAT can make it in the mainstream market if you mean the real Ada market. There are already a few companies in that space and they'll stay there until the business disappears. As far as hobbyist, personal, or small professional developer goes there shouldn't be any reason why gcc-Ada can't be just like gcc and gfortran, without an encumbered runtime. People are selling stuff written in gcc all the time and they don't have to open source it. Luther