free, open-source version of OCaml grammar?

free, open-source version of OCaml grammar?

[Yitzhak Mandelbaum]

Hi,

I'd like to port the OCaml grammar to another parser generator.  
However, the grammar is covered under the Q Public License, and the  
terms of the license seem to require that the ported version only be  
distributed as a patch to the current YACC grammar. Given that I'm  
porting the grammar to serve as an example for a new parser generator,  
distributing it as an unreadable patch is quite impractical.

Does anyone know of a version of the OCaml grammar which is not  
covered by the Q Public License?  Or, does anyone have any other  
suggestions?

Thanks!
Yitzhak
-----------------------------
Yitzhak Mandelbaum

Re: [Caml-list] free, open-source version of OCaml grammar?

[Basile STARYNKEVITCH]

Yitzhak Mandelbaum wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'd like to port the OCaml grammar to another parser generator. However, 
> the grammar is covered under the Q Public License, and the terms of the 
> license seem to require that the ported version only be distributed as a 
> patch to the current YACC grammar. Given that I'm porting the grammar to 
> serve as an example for a new parser generator, distributing it as an 
> unreadable patch is quite impractical.
> 

I am not sure that the licence requires you to make it a patch, if the syntax of your grammar is sufficiently different. 
(for instance, to port it to ANTLR/PCCTS). But I am not a lawyer.

If you intend to make a free software of your parser, perhaps the easiest way would be to ask kindly the Ocaml team?

My feeling is that your understanding of Ocaml's licence is too restrictive, especially if you play the free software 
game. But I am not a lawyer!

And a language syntax is not described by a yacc grammar, but by a human readable document. AFAIK, the Ocaml reference 
manual is not covered by QPL.

Regards.


-- 
Basile STARYNKEVITCH         http://starynkevitch.net/Basile/
email: basile<at>starynkevitch<dot>net mobile: +33 6 8501 2359
8, rue de la Faiencerie, 92340 Bourg La Reine, France
*** opinions {are only mines, sont seulement les miennes} ***

Re: [Caml-list] free, open-source version of OCaml grammar?

[Yitzhak Mandelbaum]

Basil,

I agree that my reading might well be too restrictive. Indeed, if  
anyone who understands these matters well can clarify, I'd appreciate  
it.

Regarding the issue of syntax -- true in principle, but the fact of  
the matter is that I started with the yacc grammar, not the reference  
manual.  As an earlier thread on this list discussed [1], the manual  
is more of a guideline, then a specification. :-)

Cheers,
Yitzhak

[1] http://caml.inria.fr/pub/ml-archives/caml-list/2008/06/b8d8bf2988e32db0cdb365037297996c.en.html



On Feb 15, 2010, at 2:52 PM, Basile STARYNKEVITCH wrote:

> Yitzhak Mandelbaum wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I'd like to port the OCaml grammar to another parser generator.  
>> However, the grammar is covered under the Q Public License, and the  
>> terms of the license seem to require that the ported version only  
>> be distributed as a patch to the current YACC grammar. Given that  
>> I'm porting the grammar to serve as an example for a new parser  
>> generator, distributing it as an unreadable patch is quite  
>> impractical.
>
> I am not sure that the licence requires you to make it a patch, if  
> the syntax of your grammar is sufficiently different. (for instance,  
> to port it to ANTLR/PCCTS). But I am not a lawyer.
>
> If you intend to make a free software of your parser, perhaps the  
> easiest way would be to ask kindly the Ocaml team?
>
> My feeling is that your understanding of Ocaml's licence is too  
> restrictive, especially if you play the free software game. But I am  
> not a lawyer!
>
> And a language syntax is not described by a yacc grammar, but by a  
> human readable document. AFAIK, the Ocaml reference manual is not  
> covered by QPL.
>
> Regards.
>
>
> -- 
> Basile STARYNKEVITCH         http://starynkevitch.net/Basile/
> email: basile<at>starynkevitch<dot>net mobile: +33 6 8501 2359
> 8, rue de la Faiencerie, 92340 Bourg La Reine, France
> *** opinions {are only mines, sont seulement les miennes} ***

-----------------------------
Yitzhak Mandelbaum

RE: [Caml-list] free, open-source version of OCaml grammar?

[David Allsopp]

IANAL!

Yitzhak Mendelbaum wrote:
> I'd like to port the OCaml grammar to another parser generator.

What *exactly* do you mean by port? A line-by-line conversion of
parsing/parser.mly to a your new parser generator's syntax or a brand new
file which exactly parses the same grammar as parsing/parser.mly?

> However, the grammar is covered under the Q Public License, and the
> terms of the license seem to require that the ported version only be
> distributed as a patch to the current YACC grammar.

If you're doing a line-by-line conversion then that might reasonably be
regarded as derivative but if you produce a brand new source file for your
new parser generator for the OCaml language then I would not expect that to
be covered by any aspect of OCaml's licence because the licence covers the
source code of Inria's OCaml (i.e. Copyright) and not the idea of the OCaml
language (i.e. Patent). I have no idea whether the OCaml grammar is
patented, though I'd be surprised if it were as you would have expected
Microsoft to have steered clear when developing F#.

> Given that I'm
> porting the grammar to serve as an example for a new parser generator,
> distributing it as an unreadable patch is quite impractical.

If you're using it as a demo, then I expect you'll find that the benevolent
OCaml team may well be happy to exempt the licence for that use anyway!

HTH,


David