[antlr-interest] ownership/rights for wiki content

[Terence Parr]

Hi,

My current strategy of BSD license for ANTLR and my insistence on  
contributors guaranteeing that they have the rights to contribute  
their work has led to many more (big) companies being able to use the  
new ANTLR.  Previously the weird "almost public domain" license  
bothered some companies.  More importantly, however, they wanted  
signatures from 15 years of contributors indicating nothing had been  
stolen from elsewhere and put into ANTLR (tainting source code).   
Think "SCO linux lawsuit".  My new feedback page circumvents this  
legal issue.

Anyway, as I intend to write a book which includes the raw reference  
manual that we are building (I note some serious contributions from  
Kunle last night!  Thanks!), I will need to have the right to do  
that.  I am proposing an identical "certificate of origin with teeth  
(indemnification)" (that all major code contributors will have to  
sign shortly):

http://www.antlr.org/ANTLR-contributor-agreement.pdf

So for the wiki, you would guarantee that you are not copying  
somebody else's work into the wiki and that you grant the antlr  
project license to publish the work without compensating you.

If we can agree on this, then I will alter the wiki signup to include  
this "click-wrap license" just like I have on the bottom of the  
feedback page:

http://www.antlr.org/misc/feedback

So, you will still own your work but you are granting me a license to  
publish it or whatever.

Yes, this legal crap is a pain but is a reality today.  I'm about to  
close a deal with a big player if they think that the contributor's  
cert. of origin is ok; so, this stuff really matters and is good for  
the project.

Terence