Re: wdg-html-reference_1.0-3_i386.changes REJECTED
[please CC mean on responses, I am not subscribed to the list.)
This is the full license of the wdg-html-reference package:
: Copyright:
:
: This document will discuss information regarding the manner in which WDG
: offline references may be distributed. Before we begin, please note
: that
: you may contact Arnoud "Galactus" Engelfriet or John Pozadzides (email
: addresses are listed above) at any time if you need clarification or wish
: to discuss any matter dealing with these distribution policies.
:
: The files in the offline references may be freely modified and
: redistributed under the following conditions:
:
:
: * Modified files must include, in text visible to the end user, the
: following declaration:
:
: "This document was modified from the Web Design Group's original work.
: The Web Design Group takes no responsibility for any errors introduced."
:
: * All existing copyright notices in the documents must not be modified.
:
: * Any HTML changes must not generate HTML errors according to an SGML-based
: HTML validator e.g.:
: WDG HTML Validator (http://www.htmlhelp.com//tools/validator/)
: W3C HTML Validation Service (http://validator.w3.org/";) or an XML
: validator.
Richard thinks the last clause renders this package non-free but I
disagree. I think it is legitimate for the license of a piece of
documentation (which has an educational and reference purpose) to try and
maintains the works integrity. While this is not the HTML standard
itself, this package purports to teach standard HTML. To allow people to
mess with the HTML in non-standard ways renders it useless for its
intended purpose. So i think it should be allowed into main.
Also it should be noted that the authors created this licence after
consulting debian-legal and it seems that people agreed it was ok
then (or at least didn't complain very loudly.)
What do you think?
--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar@debian.org>
On 9 Jun 1999, Richard Braakman wrote:
> I believe that the following clause makes this package non-free:
>
> * Any HTML changes must not generate HTML errors according to an SGML-based
> HTML validator e.g.:
> WDG HTML Validator (http://www.htmlhelp.com//tools/validator/)
> W3C HTML Validation Service (http://validator.w3.org/";)
> or an XML validator.
>
> Please take discussion to debian-legal if you disagree.
>
> Richard Braakman
>
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