Re: Free documents using non-free fonts - can they be in main?

[Henning Makholm <henning@makholm.net>]

Scripsit Frank Küster <frank@debian.org>

> I'm wondering whether a document that's licensed under a DFSG-free
> license, with TeX/sgml/whatever sources available and all, may use
> non-free fonts.

I think the source itself can be free (and, hence, can be in a source
package in main), but I don't think we should ship formatted versions
of it except in contrib.

Alternatively, one could replace the font selection with a free one in
the Debian diff (assuming that does not lead to unsightly spacing
disasters) and ship a version formatted with free fonts.

> Assuming that the original author has the right to distribute and
> let re-distribute PDF files using that font without limits, would it
> be okay for main to distribute the compiled document (PDF) in the
> binary package, and the sources in the source package?

I don't think it's OK to ship anything in a main binary that cannot be
recreated from source using tools in main.

-- 
Henning Makholm  "Det er jo svært at vide noget når man ikke ved det, ikke?"