Re: Debian's own stuff and the DFSG...
On Wed, Nov 07, 2001 at 09:05:43PM +0000, Sunnanvind wrote:
> I don't see any reason why Debian should strip out parts of GNU manuals
> that are about their political stance or about "Funding free software"
> and things like that. Still, I interpret DFSG 3 as if it
> said "modification of _any_ part of the work must be allowed".
Well, as you rightly point out, this was never true. Other examples were
listed, like you may not modify the copyrright notices themself etc (the GPL
has something about a copyright notice for interactive programs that must
not be removed).
> Would it be a terribly bad idea to bring this up for like, a Debian vote
> or so?
I think it would be a good idea (even better if consensu can be established
without vote, but sometimes a vote is necessary).
> I'm kinda thinking along the lines right now of amending/clarifying DFSG
> 3, so it says something like:
> "The license must allow modifications (and derived works) of all parts of
> the software, with the possible exception of the following non-technical,
> non-functional, non-program parts: [insert entire list of exceptions
> here]. The license must allow them to be distributed under the same terms
> as the license of the original software."
Not bad for a start. I think non-technical, non-funcation, non-program is
already a quite good description of the list itself, so maybe not list them
all, but only describe it the way you did (also in the following paragraphs
I am snipping here).
> As few things on the list as possible. Artsy things like xfig-examples,
> images, movies and sounds can live in non-free unless they're modifiable.
Definitely.
> I don't know if the Free Software Guidelines are written in stone.
Branden suggested to have another vote on deciding this.
/side note:
> (The totally idealistic thing to do would be to make everything public
> domain,
Works best if everyone is forced to publish the source code of software
they distribute. The GPL is there to protect your freedom, not to restrict
it.
Thanks,
Marcus
--
`Rhubarb is no Egyptian god.' Debian http://www.debian.org brinkmd@debian.org
Marcus Brinkmann GNU http://www.gnu.org marcus@gnu.org
Marcus.Brinkmann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
http://www.marcus-brinkmann.de
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