GPL license version of GNAT GPL

GPL license version of GNAT GPL

[Maciej Sobczak]

Could you please point me to the information on the license versioin
(v2 or v3) of GNAT GPL 2009?
I searched, but could not find anything in files after installation.

Let's suppose that I would like to write a library that can be used
with GNAT. Different versions of GPL are not compatible with each
other (see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/rms-why-gplv3.html>), so that
it is not possible to create a single program that uses GNAT runtime
and a given library if the license versions for the GNAT runtime and
that library are different.

I would therefore expect that the GPL version for GNAT is displayed
visibly somewhere, so that library authors know which version to use
if they want to target this compiler.

--
Maciej Sobczak * www.msobczak.com * www.inspirel.com

Database Access Library for Ada: www.inspirel.com/soci-ada

Re: GPL license version of GNAT GPL

[Hibou57 (Yannick Duchêne)]

On 29 oct, 17:22, Maciej Sobczak <see.my.homep...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Could you please point me to the information on the license versioin
> (v2 or v3) of GNAT GPL 2009?
> I searched, but could not find anything in files after installation.
>
> Let's suppose that I would like to write a library that can be used
> with GNAT. Different versions of GPL are not compatible with each
> other (see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/rms-why-gplv3.html>), so that
> it is not possible to create a single program that uses GNAT runtime
> and a given library if the license versions for the GNAT runtime and
> that library are different.
>
> I would therefore expect that the GPL version for GNAT is displayed
> visibly somewhere, so that library authors know which version to use
> if they want to target this compiler.
>
> --
> Maciej Sobczak *www.msobczak.com*www.inspirel.com
>
> Database Access Library for Ada:www.inspirel.com/soci-ada

I'm not a lawyer, but I guess if two licenses are not compatible with
each other, this is most probably due to terms and content than due to
version number.

Can you quote the terms of both licenses which make your possibly
project unfeasible ?

Also, except in special circumstances, GPL terms are very simple : you
must allow anyone to redistribute your work for free (most notably
meaning no practicable commercial works), modified or unmodified, or
else, if you disagree, must not distribute anything at all. That's a
major point which any version of the GPL is unlikely to modify. Other
points and variant are mainly workaround dealing with technology
traps, like generic library instantiation, hardware keys, etc.

I guess your matter is more subtle than that, so there as well, can
you tell more about your requirements ?

Y.

Re: GPL license version of GNAT GPL

[Tero Koskinen]

On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:22:24 -0700 (PDT) Maciej Sobczak wrote:

> Could you please point me to the information on the license versioin
> (v2 or v3) of GNAT GPL 2009?
> I searched, but could not find anything in files after installation.

I don't know about binary versions, but source code distribution has
following file:
gnat-gpl-2009-src/COPYING3 which is GPLv3

and headers point to that file.

For example, gnat-gpl-2009-src/src/ada/lib-xref.adb:
-- GNAT is free software;  you can  redistribute it  and/or modify it under --
-- terms of the  GNU General Public License as published  by the Free Soft- --
-- ware  Foundation;  either version 3,  or (at your option) any later ver- --
-- sion.  GNAT is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITH- --
-- OUT ANY WARRANTY;  without even the  implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY --
-- or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License --
-- for  more details.  You should have  received  a copy of the GNU General --
-- Public License  distributed with GNAT; see file COPYING3.  If not, go to --
-- http://www.gnu.org/licenses for a complete copy of the license.          --

However, it seems that GPLv2 license file is also distributed:
gnat-gpl-2009-src/COPYING

-- 
Tero Koskinen - http://iki.fi/tero.koskinen/

Re: GPL license version of GNAT GPL

[Maciej Sobczak]

On 29 Paź, 18:22, Hibou57 (Yannick Duchêne) <yannick_duch...@yahoo.fr>
wrote:

> I'm not a lawyer, but I guess if two licenses are not compatible with
> each other, this is most probably due to terms and content than due to
> version number.

Well, these two version numbers differ in terms and content...

> Can you quote the terms of both licenses which make your possibly
> project unfeasible ?

Please see the page that I linked in my previous post.

> Also, except in special circumstances, GPL terms are very simple : you
> must allow anyone to redistribute your work for free (most notably
> meaning no practicable commercial works), modified or unmodified

Well, these conditions are enforced by the requirement that the
derived work is distributed with the same license. If you have two
libraries (like GNAT runtime and my library) with different licenses,
then obviously the whole program cannot have the same license as each
of its dependants at the same time.
Again, please refer to the FSF webpage.
Interestingly, they don't consider it to be a problem...

--
Maciej Sobczak * www.msobczak.com * www.inspirel.com

Database Access Library for Ada: www.inspirel.com/soci-ada

Re: GPL license version of GNAT GPL

[Manuel Collado]

Maciej Sobczak escribió:
> ... If you have two
> libraries (like GNAT runtime and my library) with different licenses,
> then obviously the whole program cannot have the same license as each
> of its dependants at the same time.
> Again, please refer to the FSF webpage.
> Interestingly, they don't consider it to be a problem...

Probably because in fact there is no problem. License terms differs, but 
the Copyright notice says:

"GNAT is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under 
terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free 
Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option) any later 
version...."

And similarly for previous GNAT versions under *GPLv2-or-later*.

So if you have a mixture of GPLv2 and GPLv3 libraries with such 
copyright notices you can legally distribute the bundle under GPLv3 (or 
later)

Just my 2c.
-- 
Manuel Collado - http://lml.ls.fi.upm.es/~mcollado

Re: GPL license version of GNAT GPL

[Stephen Leake]

Maciej Sobczak <see.my.homepage@gmail.com> writes:

> Could you please point me to the information on the license versioin
> (v2 or v3) of GNAT GPL 2009?
> I searched, but could not find anything in files after installation.

GNAT-GPL-2009/lib/gcc/i686-pc-mingw32/4.3.4/adainclude/*.ad?

-- GNAT is free software;  you can  redistribute it  and/or modify it under --
-- terms of the  GNU General Public License as published  by the Free Soft- --
-- ware  Foundation;  either version 2,  or (at your option) any later ver- --
-- sion.  GNAT is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITH- --

-- 
-- Stephe