[antlr-interest] Re: ANTLR Rights and Open Source issues

[Robert Colquhoun]

At 08:27 PM 1/22/02 -0500, bob mcwhirter wrote:
> > Can you change the current license?
>
>Sure, Ter ostensibly has the copyright to it, and do what he pleases.
>If you argue it's public-domain, then Ter can *assume* copyright (as
>can I, or anyone else, for that matter) and do as they please.

Ack!!  I just read the RIGHTS file again and realised because the code is 
placed in the public domain there is no disclaimer of warranty or liability 
limitation type clause.

...so if someone uses antlr to build a compiler for their heart-lung 
machine and a antlr bug causes it to fail they are entitled to sue all the 
antlr authors!!!   :-(


> > If you do a full rewrite and are the 100% author then obviously you can do
> > what you want.....but antlr has accepted contributions from many different
> > people, surely you will need to get everyones agreement to change the 
> license.
>
>My take is that by contributing code back to the mainline, you
>acquiese to the license of the mainline, which to this point has
>been public-domain.

The RIGHTS doc is a little weird in that the first paragraph states the 
code is in the public domain and then the 2nd paragraph goes and puts all 
these conditions on it ie a credit clause and header modification 
clause.  You could still have a nasty argument that the author only 
intended their code to be distributed under this modified public domain, a 
sortof license, and not some arbitrary license you later chose.

On the other this is kind of unlikely, but anyway...

  - Robert


 

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