Re: Encoding the name in the file contents (was Re: Towards a new LPPL draft)
> This is especially true if you
> interpret the many different modules of LaTeX as separate works (as the
> LaTeX Project seems to do)
I don't see how you can do anything but consider them separate works.
If you are writing latex packages then latex is essentially a programming
language. So you write your program (in latex) you retain the copyright
and you stick it on some server with a licence of your choice.
You can do this without reference to the latex maintainers and without
using ctan (although the ctan network is a popular choice of
distribution method).
At what point would your new program cease to be a separate work?
The whole point of producing LPPL was to offer people who are doing the
above a convenient off the shelf licence they could use. (Note "could" not
"must") some people use GPL, traditionally most did no explicit licence at
all, something we have been trying to get people to avoid in recent years.
An important part of this is that latex isn't given special privileges:
it is licenced under the same licence that we offer people to use in
their packages.
What Debian gets is tetex in which Thomas has done a massive ammount of
work making all these disparate programs (not just latex related) have
the appearance of a coherent whole. But if making such a package meant
you no longer had to worry about the licence conditions on the separate
works that are being packaged, we wouldn't be needing this conversation
at all.
David
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