Re: ada & gui

[Jeffrey Carter <spam@spam.com>]

Marc A. Criley wrote:
> 
> It helps to look at the effect AdaCore was trying to achieve with the 
> GMGPL.

It helps even more to know the history behind GNAT. GNAT was developed 
by a team at NYU under a contract from the US Govt. (Some team members 
later formed Ada Core Technologies.) The contract specified that the 
compiler must be GPL, but applications compiled with the compiler need 
not be GPL.

The existing gcc was used as a model for how to achieve this. However, 
there was some question about the implications of the Ada run time on 
the 2nd requirement. Making the run time GPL might mean that any 
application that included the run time would be GPL. So lawyers at NYU 
came up with the GMGPL to get around this. The run time would be GMGPL, 
so applications that included the run time need not be GPL.

The GMGPL exception only applies to linking or instantiating; it does 
not apply to modifying the code. So, if you modify the GMGPL code, the 
GPL applies.

Disclaimer: IANAL.

-- 
Jeff Carter
"If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate."
Monty Python's the Meaning of Life
56