From 02731c5048d1275d29034bcee767032cc00d3cfa Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Russell Ballestrini Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2025 07:45:50 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Emphasize botoform was developed 10 years ago, before ML era Add timeline: initial commit 2015, a decade ago. Link to original commit showing expert-level YAML practice. Note it predates machine learning era, CloudFormation YAML, & Terraform ecosystem. Establishes historical precedent for YAML infrastructure-as-code. --- content/2025-10-18-who-owns-yaml.rst | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/content/2025-10-18-who-owns-yaml.rst b/content/2025-10-18-who-owns-yaml.rst index 5577559..a681f65 100644 --- a/content/2025-10-18-who-owns-yaml.rst +++ b/content/2025-10-18-who-owns-yaml.rst @@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ who owns yaml? **You can't patent the YAML spec.** The YAML 1.2 specification is an open standard maintained by the YAML Forum under the Open Standards Compact. This explicitly protects implementers from patent assertions - no one can claim exclusive rights over the specification through patents. Any implementation of the standard is protected from patent infringement. -**YAML is data, & data is not code.** Even when YAML expresses configuration logic, workflow definitions, or infrastructure-as-code, it remains a data serialization format. For example, `botoform `_ uses YAML to represent the desired state of AWS infrastructure - created before CloudFormation supported YAML (when it was JSON-only) & before Terraform had extensive provider support. These YAML schemas describe infrastructure state as data, not executable programs. Data structures & formats are not patentable subject matter under established legal precedent - raw data, database schemas, & file formats are considered abstract ideas that lack the technical novelty required for patent protection. Attempting to patent data schemas or configuration formats creates barriers to interoperability & harms the open ecosystem that makes modern software development possible. +**YAML is data, & data is not code.** Even when YAML expresses configuration logic, workflow definitions, or infrastructure-as-code, it remains a data serialization format. For example, `botoform `_ (developed 10 years ago, `initial commit 2015 `_) uses YAML to represent the desired state of AWS infrastructure - created before the machine learning era, before CloudFormation supported YAML (when it was JSON-only), & before Terraform had extensive provider support. These YAML schemas describe infrastructure state as data, not executable programs. Data structures & formats are not patentable subject matter under established legal precedent - raw data, database schemas, & file formats are considered abstract ideas that lack the technical novelty required for patent protection. Attempting to patent data schemas or configuration formats creates barriers to interoperability & harms the open ecosystem that makes modern software development possible. **State machines are mathematics, not inventions.** Finite state machines, state transitions, & graph-based logic are fundamental computer science concepts - like algorithms & mathematical formulas - that exist in the public domain. You cannot patent the concept of a state machine any more than you can patent addition or the Pythagorean theorem. When you express state machine logic in YAML (defining states, transitions, & rules), you're describing mathematical relationships using a data format. The underlying concepts have been taught in computer science curricula for decades & represent shared human knowledge, not proprietary innovations.