DFSG: list restrictions, not freedoms
Rather than attempt to list all the freedoms that Debian guarantees, why
not list the *restrictions* on freedom that we do allow, and say that
any other restrictions violate our guidelines.
IOW, instead of saying, "we allow this, we forbid this, we allow
this...", simply say, "we forbid all restrictions except these...."
No need to mention, e.g., discrimination; if it's not a listed
restriction, it's an unacceptable restriction.
A preliminary outline of acceptable restrictions:
1. Credit where credit is due. (copyright notices, etc.)
2. Continued freedom ((L)GPL, MPL, QPL, etc.).
3. Identity (artistic)
4. "Non-contaminating" non-commercialism (artistic)
5. Integrity ("patch-clause" -- deprecated)
These obviously need to be fleshed out and pinned down a little. Number
one needs to be chopped off somewhere around (either including or
excluding) the terms of the BSD license. And we can drop the patch
clause if desired. But I think this approach of listing acceptable
restrictions on our freedoms is probably the most clear. I think it
might help make the DFSG brief and to-the-point.
Comments?
--
Chris Waters xtifr@dsp.net | I have a truly elegant proof of the
or xtifr@debian.org | above, but it is too long to fit into
http://www.dsp.net/xtifr | this .signature file.
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