Re: Interfacing Ada With Full Runtime Directly to Electronic Chips

[antispam@math.uni.wroc.pl]

Simon Wright <simon@pushface.org> wrote:
> antispam@math.uni.wroc.pl writes:
> 
> > Simon Wright <simon@pushface.org> wrote:
> >> 
> >> Both of the above use OS device support via file read/write/ioctl. If
> >> you want to go bare(ish) metal, there is the AdaCore Ada_Drivers_Library
> >> at [4]. This uses cross-compilation for ARM Cortex MCUs, compilers from
> >> AdaCore (or [5], [6] for Mac), with runtimes for boards mostly from
> >> STMicroelectronics (e.g. [7]).
> >> 
> >> The AdaCore runtimes support Ravenscar tasking[8] and come in two
> >> flavours, small footprint (-sfp-) and full (-full-). The -full- version
> >> supports exception handling and finalization and includes
> >> Ada.Numerics. Neither support containers (easy enough to copy into the
> >> -full- version, I expect).
> >> 
> >> The Ada_Drivers_Library uses a BSD license. The AdaCore runtimes use a
> >> full-GPL license. If this matters to you I have runtimes for Arduino Due
> >> and STM32F4[9] which are based on FreeRTOS and have the GCC Runtime
> >> Library Exception, allowing release of code on proprietary terms.
> >
> > IIUC STM runtimes are incompatible with GPL.  So combining them
> > with GPL runtime means that result can not be distributed at
> > all.
> 
> Do you have a reference for this? the STM source licence that I see in
> the STM32Cube firmware releases imposes very few restrictions on the
> actual use of the software, only requiring inclusion of the STM
> copyright notice. There's nothing like the restriction quoted in [1].
> 
> But in any case the RTS I'm talking about doesn't use any STM code, just
> FreeRTOS. Which uses a GPLv2 licence, which doesn't include the usual
> "or later version" test. Which may be a problem.
> 
> [1] https://github.com/d-ronin/dRonin/issues/928

I did not look at STM32Cube (they make download awkward and I do
not need most of it).  Most of parts that I was able to
download outside of STM32Cube contain the restriction to
STM devices mentioned in [1].  AFAICS some STM libraries
are only available as C headers + binary blob.

Good to hear that you are independent of STM code.

-- 
                              Waldek Hebisch