[antlr-interest] submission of patches, fixes, other contributions

[Anthony Youngman]

Why is it hypocritical?

If *I* drive recklessly, you are arguing that it's fair to blame the
occupants of the car I hit for the accident (equally with me, of course
:-)

The *contributor* is placing the project at risk by virtue of his
contribution, therefore he has a duty to certify that he has behaved
properly in making that contribution. You cannot ask the USER to certify
that the CONTRIBUTOR has behaved himself. Therefore you (have to) place
a higher duty on the contributor.

Cheers,
Wol

-----Original Message-----
From: antlr-interest-bounces at antlr.org
[mailto:antlr-interest-bounces at antlr.org] On Behalf Of John D. Mitchell
Sent: 31 May 2005 16:58
To: Gerald B. Rosenberg
Cc: ANTLR Interest
Subject: Re: [antlr-interest] submission of patches, fixes, other
contributions

>>>>> "Gerald" == Gerald B Rosenberg <gbr at newtechlaw.com> writes:
[...]

> Now to your point.  What I suggest is not hypocritical, but you are
> correct that the protections are asymmetric.  The free software market
> place is not zero sum gain, but zero sum.  Wish the economic model was
> different, but without monetization, there is no rational way to
transfer
> risk in any direction.  In such situations, the only way to remain
viable
> is to minimize as much as possible risk from the outset.

It's both asymmetric and hypocritical.  One of the big points about the
intent of the F/OSS world is the removal of hypocrisy.  I.e. the point
of
all of this is *more* than just the legal minimums.

[...]

> As a practical matter, regardless of any technically legal asymmetry
in
> the license wording (and to a certainty if the risk is equally
shared),
> the contributor, the project and the community will all likely loose
> everything in defense of even a minimally credible legal challenge.

Yes, indeed, transaction costs in the current legal climate are utterly
ridiculous.

As to the "likely to loose everything", that's still a very open
question.

Take care,
	John


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