GNAT Modified General Public License
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The GNAT Modified General Public License (short: Modified GPL, GMGPL) is a version of the
GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the Four Freedoms (Free software), four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was th ...
specifically modified for compiled units and for the generic feature found in the
Ada programming language Ada is a structured, statically typed, imperative, and object-oriented high-level programming language, extended from Pascal and other languages. It has built-in language support for '' design by contract'' (DbC), extremely strong typing, expl ...
. The modification is as follows: :As a special exception, if other files instantiate generics from this unit, or you link this unit with other files to produce an executable, this unit does not by itself cause the resulting executable to be covered by the GNU General Public License. This exception does not however invalidate any other reasons why the executable file might be covered by the GNU Public License. The
GNAT A gnat () is any of many species of tiny flying insects in the dipterid suborder Nematocera, especially those in the families Mycetophilidae, Anisopodidae and Sciaridae. They can be both biting and non-biting. Most often they fly in large ...
Ada compiler can automate conformance checks for some GPL software license issues via a
compiler directive In computer programming, a directive or pragma (from "pragmatic") is a language construct that specifies how a compiler (or other translator) should process its input. Directives are not part of the grammar of a programming language, and may vary ...
. Use pragma License (Modified_GPL); to activate the check against the Modified GPL. The GNAT Reference Manual documents the License pragma along with other compiler directives.


See also

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Free software licences A free-software license is a notice that grants the recipient of a piece of software extensive rights to modify and software distribution, redistribute that software. These actions are usually prohibited by copyright law, but the rights-holde ...
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GNU Free Documentation License The GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL or simply GFDL) is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the r ...
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GNU Lesser General Public License The GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) is a free-software license published by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). The license allows developers and companies to use and integrate a software component released under the LGPL into their own ...
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OpenSSL exception OpenSSL is a software library for applications that provide secure communications over computer networks against eavesdropping or need to identify the party at the other end. It is widely used by Internet servers, including the majority of HTT ...
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GPL linking exception A GPL linking exception modifies the GNU General Public License (GPL) in a way that enables software projects which provide library code to be " linked to" the programs that use them, without applying the full terms of the GPL to the using program. ...


References

GNU Project Free and open-source software licenses Copyleft software licenses Ada (programming language) {{law-stub