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

Terence Parr parrt at cs.usfca.edu
Mon May 30 13:43:43 PDT 2005


On May 29, 2005, at 3:59 PM, Brian Smith wrote:

> I don't understand this part:
>
> "You understand that Terence may not incorporate your submission into
> the ANTLR project and you certify the following"

Ooops...made it say "may or may not".

> This part is saying that the contributor has the right to license this
> to for a specific purpose (to relicense to others via the BSD
> license), but he is instead going to license it to you under the
> totally different license described in the second sentence (which he
> has not promised that he has the right to do):
>
> "I created this contribution in whole or in part and I have the right
> to license it to Terence Parr, the primary author of the ANTLR
> project, for release under the BSD license. I grant Terence Parr a
> nonexclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide license to
> reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works, and otherwise use
> this contribution as part of the ANTLR project, associated
> documentation, books, and tools at no cost to Terence Parr or to ANTLR
> users."
>
> I think that you should just remove the second sentence. Also, *which*

I have tweaked everything to say The ANTLR Project instead of me  
alone.  You must grant me the license so I have the power to release  
it I think though, right?

> version of the BSD license are you referring to? I think it would be

the "good"/new one ;)

> better to include the license right there on the page, so the
> contributor knows what he is agreeing to.

I'm trying to keep it as small as possible...  perhaps a link.  Ok,  
added.

> If clause three is really important then I recommend finding an
> existing license with such an indemnity clause in it, and using that
> license instead of BSD. If I use ANTLR in my projects, then are you
> going to imdemnify me for any wrongdoing on your part? I doubt it.

Many have asked but I've said no until now because I couldn't  
guarantee the chain of certified open-sourceness/rights.  For my  
part, I surely would give the indemnification.

> So,
> why should I imdemnify you?

Against your own stealing of software?  Seems an easy thing to agree  
to unless you plan on submitting something not yours, right? ;)

> This clause is scary enough that I would
> probably never contribute any code using this form (because, if
> nothing else, I don't have enough legal knowledge to know exactly what
> I would be agreeing to here).

I agree that it is scary.  I've become immune perhaps after signing  
so many contracts with that clause it in during my business days.

Per my other email, I'm looking into removing the clause.

Ter

--
CS Professor & Grad Director, University of San Francisco
Creator, ANTLR Parser Generator, http://www.antlr.org
Cofounder, http://www.jguru.com



More information about the antlr-interest mailing list