On Tue, Jun 17, 2003 at 10:49:46PM +0100, Edmund GRIMLEY EVANS wrote: > Dmitry Borodaenko <d.borodaenko@sam-solutions.net>: > > even to its creator, 'form preferred for modification' should be chosen > > from forms remaining in existence. > You shouldn't be choosing at all. You should provide everything that > is likely to be useful. Where a minimum standard for free software is concerned, this is asking a bit much. The requirements, as I understand them, are that 1) the provided source corresponds directly to the binaries being distributed, and 2) it is the form of source code most suitable for editing (as judged by whether it's the form the creator has actually used for editing). "Everything that is likely to be useful" imposes an undue burden on the author to provide lots of things that, because they don't meet the above two criteria, are non-essential. There are plenty of things that are likely to be useful in one context or another that we shouldn't require the distribution of. > For example, if you automatically converted a Pascal program to C, > then made small changes to the C, then you should provide both the > Pascal and the C as both are likely to be useful to at least some > people who want to make changes. No, you should only provide the C source, because the binaries being distributed are those of the modified C program. Once I've started editing the C program, I've made it unambiguously clear that this is the preferred form for modifications; just because the Pascal source exists doesn't mean I should have to distribute it. > On the other hand, if the C has been worked on a lot and nobody has > used the Pascal for a few years, then there is probably no need to > continue distributing the Pascal. In any case, you have to draw the > line somewhere or old versions of the code will pile up like invariant > sections in an FDL document ... Exactly. So draw the line where it needs drawing -- don't impose a requirement to distribute files that the programmer isn't in fact using to create the binaries. -- Steve Langasek postmodern programmer
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