RE: Please release the Ada Reference Manual formatting tool as Free Software
Randy Brukardt wrote:
> Is there any preference between GPL v2 and GPL v3 from the Debian
> packagers?
> Is there some other license that I should consider instead?
Hello Randy,
First of all, I'd like to thank you for considering the re-licensing
of your tool. Indeed, the request came from the Debian packagers,
specifically Stephe Leake, but the license issues are not specific to
Debian.
I personally do not have any preference between GPLv2 and GPLv3 but,
of course, the Free Software Foundation recommends v3, so I suggest
you use "v3 or later". If you would like to allow proprietary
software derived from the formatting tool, I suggest the LGPLv3
instead.
Another license that you might find acceptable is the one for the
Ada Reference Manual itself.
Unfortunately, there is no legal means, in a license, to allow free
redistribution for some licensees but require a license fee from
others (i.e. a license must be non-discriminatory). So, in order
to encourage monetary compensation for your company, I would suggest
that you allow free redistribution of the tool but offer commercial
services to accompany the tool. This is what AdaControl does; the
man page (that I wrote for Debian, incidentally) contains:
> Commercial support is available for AdaControl, see file
> /usr/share/doc/adacontrol/support.txt. If you plan to use
> AdaControl for industrial projects, or if you want it to be customized
> or extended to match your own needs, please contact Adalog at
> info@adalog.fr.
And the file /usr/share/doc/adacontrol/support.txt contains:
> Adalog provides commercial support for AdaControl. Support includes
> the following services:
>
> * Help with installation procedures
>
> * Explanations regarding the use of the tool, and help for translating
> coding standards into AdaControl rules.
>
> * Correction of problems encountered in the use of AdaControl.
> Pre-releases versions of AdaControl are provided for each corrected
> problem.
>
> * Access to beta-versions before they are released
>
> * Keeping in sync customer's own rules with the latest version
> of AdaControl.
>
> Adalog cannot correct problems whose origin is due to compiler bugs or
> defects in the implementation of ASIS (contact your compiler provider
> for support on these problems). However, Adalog will do its best
> effort to find workarounds for such problems.
>
>
> In Addition, Adalog can provide various services:
>
> - Custom improvements to AdaControl, including application-specific
> rules;
>
> - consulting services for defining coding standards;
>
> - consulting services in all areas related to Ada, real-time,
> compilation, etc. See http://www.adalog.fr for details.
>
> For pricing information about these services, please contact
> info@adalog.fr
AdaControl has been in Debian since June 2006. Jean-Pierre could
perhaps tell us if anyone contracted him after obtaining AdaControl
from Debian :)
--
Ludovic Brenta.
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