Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!epiwrl!epimass!jbuck
From: jbuck@epimass.EPI.COM (Joe Buck)
Newsgroups: comp.sources.d
Subject: Re: Please remove PD-YACC sources from your machine IMMEDIATELY
Message-ID: <2262@epimass.EPI.COM>
Date: 5 Jul 88 17:20:25 GMT
References: <3532@rpp386.UUCP> <880001@vx2.GBA.NYU.EDU>
Reply-To: jbuck@epimass.EPI.COM (Joe Buck)
Organization: Entropic Processing, Inc., Cupertino, CA
Lines: 20

In article <880001@vx2.GBA.NYU.EDU> spector@vx2.GBA.NYU.EDU (David HM Spector) writes:
>Now, wait a second!!!   Don't be so quick to jump to ATT's call... I haven't 
>seen the posting (wish I had..) but just because something is called YACC 
>doesn't mean that its automatically owned by ATT.  If these sources had 
>copyright notices all of them it was pretty silly to post them, but if not 
>its not against the law (yet) to write a YACC replacement.

There is a legal YACC replacement called "bison", from the Gnu
people.  The one AT&T is complaining about is illegal.  Drop the
illegal one, and get the legal one.

AT&T source code is protected by trade secret as well as copyright.
If you read AT&T source code of a program and then write your own
version, AT&T can still get you.  The GNU people have been very
careful never to read AT&T source code for this reason.
-- 
- Joe Buck  {uunet,ucbvax,pyramid,}!epimass.epi.com!jbuck
jbuck@epimass.epi.com	Old Arpa mailers: jbuck%epimass.epi.com@uunet.uu.net
	If you leave your fate in the hands of the gods, don't be 
	surprised if they have a few grins at your expense.	- Tom Robbins