What License Does Grammatica Use?

Updated

Grammatica is open source software released under the permissive BSD license. That license gives you full access to the source code, permits changes, and allows unlimited redistribution and usage in commercial applications. If your question is simply "can I use Grammatica in a commercial product?" — the answer is yes, with no royalty or separate commercial license required.

What the BSD License Allows

The BSD license is a permissive open source license, which means it places few restrictions on how you use the software. According to the project's own description, the license provides:

  • Full access to the source code — you can read, inspect, and study how Grammatica works.
  • Permission to make changes — you can modify the source to fit your needs.
  • Unlimited redistribution — you can pass the software on to others, including as part of a larger distribution.
  • Use in commercial applications — commercial use is explicitly allowed.

This is the key difference between permissive licenses like BSD and copyleft licenses like the GPL. A permissive license does not require you to open-source your own application just because you used the library.

What This Means in Practice

If you generate parsers with Grammatica and ship them inside a commercial product, the license does not force you to release your product's source code. You also don't need to pay a fee or negotiate a separate agreement.

The typical obligations that come with BSD-style licenses are attribution-related: you generally need to retain the copyright notice and license text in redistributions of the software itself. The project page does not spell out the exact clause wording, so if you are redistributing Grammatica's own source or binaries, check the license file included in the download package for the precise terms.

Quick Reference

Question Answer
Is Grammatica open source? Yes
Which license? BSD (permissive)
Can I modify the source? Yes
Can I redistribute it? Yes, without limit
Can I use it commercially? Yes
Do I have to open-source my own app? No, per the permissive terms described

Where to Confirm the Details

The license text ships with the download package, and releases are hosted on GitHub with version history. If you need the exact wording for legal review, pull the license file from the release you intend to use rather than relying on a summary — license text is the authoritative source, and this article only reflects what the project states about its own terms.