Re: New DFSG-compliant emacs packages
On Sat, 28 Oct 2006 09:20:15 +0200, David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> said:
> Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> writes:
>> On Fri, 27 Oct 2006 23:53:14 +0200, David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org>
>> said:
>>
>>> You did not answer my question. What freedom of the user is
>>> protected by removing GFDLed documentation from Emacs?
>>
>> Similar to the freedoms protected by not providing propreitary code
>> on the GNU system.
> There is no freedom protected by that. Proprietary code is not in
> the GNU system so that people using the GNU system are not kept from
> helping their neighbors and themselves with the source code. Not
> being allowed to modify or throw out the GNU Manifesto from a
> 500+-page document is not keeping them from using and modifying the
> source.
I am prevented from making a small version of the manual to go
along with the emacs prc I hav made for my palm device; since memory
all limited. I do not have the freedom to make a small little cheat
cheet ased on the manual, without adding stuff the removes the space
available for my MP3's.
Just because this is a freedom you do not care about does not
mean it is a freedom that Debian does not care about.
>> If the manuals are not free for users to modify, derive from and
>> further distribute their changes,
> But they are. The only sections not allowed to be modified or
> removed are not relevant to using and changing the software. They
> are secondary sections with non-technical contents. In this case,
> the GNU Manifesto, the GPL, and the section "Distribution". Not
> being allowed to change them does not stop the manual from being
> adapted to changes in the code.
I I want to boil down the manual to one or two pages, then
the extraneous bits are burdensome. You have decided that is not a
freedom you care about. I differ.
>> then they must be removed from the distribution, that people rely
>> on to provide them with entirely free software.
> So no freedom of the user gets protected in the process, merely his
> convenience.
Semantics. I need to be free to move the doc to my phone. It
is an important freedom for me, but for you it is convenience. Are
only the freedoms you consider important really freedoms, and the
rest mere conveniences to be removed as someone sees fit?
> Well, where is the Debian project to start a non-GFDLed manual for
> Emacs?
Where? I am not sure I know what that means. Geographical
location? I don't think that has any meaning. Place for software
collaboration? well, we can do it on alioth, or a doc or emacs
related mailing list. Why is this relevant?
> It shows that the talk of "protection" is nonsense.
You lack of imagination is your problem.
manoj
--
Our informal mission is to improve the love life of operators
worldwide. Peter Behrendt, president of Exabyte
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> <http://www.debian.org/~srivasta/>
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