[jira] [Created] (THRIFT-5403) Compiler improvement or GPL-2.0 exception for lex & yacc parser files

["Triton Circonflexe (Jira)" <ji...@apache.org>]

Triton Circonflexe created THRIFT-5403:
------------------------------------------

             Summary: Compiler improvement or GPL-2.0 exception for lex & yacc parser files
                 Key: THRIFT-5403
                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/THRIFT-5403
             Project: Thrift
          Issue Type: Wish
          Components: Compiler (General)
    Affects Versions: 0.14.1
         Environment: Wireshark dissector.
            Reporter: Triton Circonflexe


A little bit of context first: I'm currently working on Thrift dissection in Wireshark ([#16244|https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/issues/16244] for the curious ones) and after this update on the generic binary protocol parsing part, I'd like to work on the dissection of Thrift packets according to provided {{.thrift}} files.

In order to do this, several options are possible:
# Update the thrift compiler to be able to generate a lua or a C sub-dissector leveraging the sub-dissection capabilities of the Thrift dissector (not usable for the moment as sub-struct, list, set and map are not available).
# Update the thrift compiler to be able to generate a lua or a C sub-dissector doing all the dissection.
# Add a parser for {{.thrift}} files in Wireshark and patch things together to be able to see {{day_of_week = sunday}} instead of {{field type = i32, field id = 3, i32 value = 0}} without having to generate a sub-dissector.

Given the fact that it was the approach retained for [Protobuf|https://gitlab.com/wireshark/wireshark/-/commit/5750c4981c56464ef1dbb8d7cfb0446cdb4b12ec], I believe the third option to be the best track regarding the amount of work and the usability.

Now, regarding the implementation of this parser, I see 2 options:
# Reuse {{thriftl.ll}} & {{thrifty.yy}} to ensure perfect compatibility.
# Rewrite them from scratch using [Thrift interface description language|https://thrift.apache.org/docs/idl.html] documentation with some risks of incompatibility.

However, Wireshark is GPL-2.0 or later and Thrift (including the lex & yacc files) is of course Apache-2.0 with the incompatibility explained at [https://www.apache.org/licenses/GPL-compatibility.html].

So, would it be possible to make the license for those 2 files compatible with the GPL-2.0-or-later or do I need to work from the specs now?

NB: I did notice the -or-later in Wireshark's license and the fact that GPL-3.0 software can include Apache-2.0 code but I'm not a lawyer so I prefer to be on the safe side before I even take a look after the header of these files. :)



--
This message was sent by Atlassian Jira
(v8.3.4#803005)