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From: tp@ndm20
Newsgroups: net.lang
Subject: Re: lex and yacc in the public domain (
Message-ID: <3600004@ndm20>
Date: Fri, 23-May-86 11:52:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: ndm20.3600004
Posted: Fri May 23 11:52:00 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 27-May-86 07:33:16 EDT
References: <481@batcomputer.TN.CORNELL.EDU>
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Nf-ID: #R:batcomputer.TN.CORNELL.EDU:481:ndm20:3600004:000:1141
Nf-From: ndm20!tp    May 23 10:52:00 1986


>4) I have not communicated with GNU directly about it, but their Bison
>   program appears to be a Yacc look-alike, without documentation, but
>   with hints of enhancements (something about quote semantic_parser
>   end-quote). It is explicitly public-domain. This is what I'm actually 
>   using.

I don't believe that any of  the GNU  code is  public domain.   It is
copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation.   There are restrictions
on  its  use  and  re-distribution that  are designed  to ensure that
nobody ever makes any money from it.  In particular, as per a note by
John  Nelson  in  net.emacs,  the parser  generated by  bison is also
copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation, so you can not use it in
any kind of commercial software.   I believe  the legality  of such a
copyright to be rather dubious, but the only way to find out is to go
to  court,  and  I  do  think the  Free Software  Foundation would be
inclined to take it that far.

Nathan D. Maier Consulting Engineers
(214)739-4741
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