Re: The GPL "Special Exception" and yacc.c

[David Wootelhoff]

On 3/6/09, David Wootelhoff <address@hidden> wrote:

> I'm considering using a Bison generated parser in a closed source
> commercial product.
>
> I see that the C file output by Bison has a section starting "As a
> special exception" which refers to "the Bison parser skeleton". Does
> this paragraph mean I can modify yacc.c itself (which I understand is
> the skeleton) and still keep my generated parser closed source? My
> initial interpretation was that this was indeed the case, but I see
> that yacc.c itself only contains the standard GPL notice and no
> "Special Exception". (I'm aware that the special exception definitely
> applies to the bison generated C file).
>
> I'd like to use Bison with a modified skeleton but I don't want to
> violate the GPL. Any clarification is much appreciated.

Hi, does anyone know the answer to the above question, or have any
hints about how I might find it?

I'm unsure if the question is so trivial that no-one is interested in
answering it, or so difficult that people can't answer it ;)

Regards,

David