Re: A single unified license
The idea of writing a single license for both software and
documentation (i.e., for "content") is a good one. Perhaps
this could be done in GPL version 4. I would hope that in
extending it, the beauty of the current GPL is preserved.
What is beautiful about the GPL is that it grants the licensee
total freedom to do what s/he likes with the work, with a
single well understood limitation: s/he cannot distribute an
improved version of the work under more restrictive terms or
conditions than those of the GPL. This restriction is not
a burdensome restriction on anyone who wants to contribute to
the commons: it simply rules out a certain dangerous sort of
exploitative behavior: the Embrace and Extend(tm) strategy.
The GPL places minimal restrictions on the use of the content
itself.
That is more than can be said for the GFDL. The GFDL places
several different kinds of restrictions on the content itself,
none of which appears to be either necessary or sufficient for
the effective protection of software freedom. We are supposed
to accept these restrictions on the grounds that RMS doesn't
find them too onerous. That just isn't good enough, at least
for Debian's purposes.
So I hope that a future unified content license is modelled
on the current GPL, not on the GFDL.
--
Thomas Hood
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