On Thu, Apr 17, 2003 at 02:47:20PM +0200, Joerg Wendland wrote: > is there anything like a Debian Free Software License? A license that is > modelled after the DFSG? For me as free software developer, that would be a > nice to have. I couldn't find a discussion about something similar in the > list archives. Is this worth a discussion? Regarding the latest FDL > discussion, would it be feasible to create a Debian Free Documentation > License? One way to think about the DFSG[1] is to conceive of it as a sequence of tests that is applied to a license. If it passes all the tests, it *might* be a DFSG-free license. If it fails one or more, it most likely is not. This a gray endeavor, not a scientific one like chemical analysis. But even in chemical qualitative analysis, it is the case that knowing how to distinguish an acid from a base doesn't of itself tell you how to stick together atoms to create an acid. It is partly for this reason that I feel that the DFSG is an inadequate tool -- when taken all by itself -- for constructing a license. It's a good thing to read and have in mind when writing one, but it doesn't tell you everything you need to know. [1] I don't claim that everyone thinks about it this way -- G. Branden Robinson | Imagination was given man to Debian GNU/Linux | compensate for what he is not, and branden@debian.org | a sense of humor to console him for http://people.debian.org/~branden/ | what he is.
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