Re: A new practical problem with invariant sections?

[Sanjoy Mahajan <sanjoy@mrao.cam.ac.uk>]

Craig Sanders <cas@taz.net.au> writes:
> the GFDL does not say "you can not modify at all", it says "you can
> not delete or change these small secondary sections, but you can add
> your own comments to them".

I did not find any statement in the license with the text in quotes
('but you can add your own comments to them').  Giving section numbers
of the license along with such assertions helps others to check them
quickly.  Following my own advice, here is section 4(L) of the GFDL:

   4. ...In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:
   ...
   L. Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document, unaltered in
      their text and in their titles.  Section numbers or the equivalent
      are not considered part of the section titles.

The 'unaltered' means that you may not 'add your own comments to them'.
You may add another section saying, for example, 'The previous invariant
section is rubbish.  Here's why: ...' and mark it as an invariant
section.  However, this war of invariant sections leads to an
accumulation of invariant sections, none of which can be deleted.

> once again: you *can* modify an invariant section by "patching" it.

The distributed source code could include a patch modifying the
invariant section.  However, you cannot distribute an opaque copy
(e.g. printed copy, or HTML generated from DocBook, etc.)  based on the
patch, for then you would violate section 4(L).

-Sanjoy

`A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.'
   - Bertrand de Jouvenal