Licensing possible derivatives

[Aidan-McNay]

Hi!

I was working on a project somewhat similar to this - https://github.com/Aidan-McNay/scarf/tree/main (aiming for tools like a linter/formatter, but starting with a parser). I opted to start my own rather than contributing for a couple reasons, largely creative ownership and some slightly different design decisions, although sv-parser looks great in its own right! When writing this, while no code was ever copied or re-used from sv-parser, I had looked at the code before and had exposure, and am not sure whether this qualifies it as a derivative work.

I'm currently figuring out under which license I want to use the code, but it will likely be LGPL or something similar. I believe this is in-line with the current licenses (being less permissive) even if the code is considered a derivative. Regardless, I wanted to have an open conversation and get your thoughts before making any independent conclusions

[dalance]

I'm not an expert on licenses or copyrights, but this is my understanding:

• Simply looking at the code in the past doesn't make it a derivative work (cleanroom implementations are often done to strongly assert that it's not a derivative, but not doing so doesn't automatically mean it's considered a derivative).
• Even if it were to become a derivative work, it would be possible to change from a permissive license to the GPL (you would probably only need to retain the original copyright notice).

My personal opinion is that your work is not a derivative of sv-parser, so you are free to license it as you wish.
Also, I have no intention of suing you over this matter, but even if such a situation were to arise, if it could be resolved simply by including the original copyright notice, I think there would be almost no risk.

I'm not in a position to give legal advice, so I encourage you to do your own research, but these are my thoughts.