Re: Bug#202723: perl-doc: Non-free manpage included
Branden Robinson <branden@debian.org> wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 14, 2003 at 04:57:09PM -0400, Mark Jason Dominus wrote:
> > I am the original author of the manual page in question. I am
> > presently negotiating with CMP, who acquired the Perl Journal a few
> > years ago, to obtain complete and unambiguous copyright on the
> > article. If I succeed, I will release the original article and
> > 'perlreftut', the derived manpage, under the GNU FDL or whatever other
> > license the Debian maintainers think appropriate.
>
> Sounds great! Thanks for letting the Debian Legal team know about this.
>
> I should advise you though, in all fairness, that the GNU FDL (any
> version released to date) is not regarded by the Debian Project as a
> DFSG-free[1] license, so relicensing the works in question under the GNU
> FDL alone would not result in a material difference in their handling by
> the Debian Project.
>
> One reason for this assessment by the Debian Project is that the GNU FDL
> is not GNU GPL-compatible, so it is not possible for third parties to
> move FDL-licensed documentation into Perl code via POD, for instance, at
> least not without negotiating with the copyright holder of the GNU
> FDL-licensed documentation.
I also think that you should chose a license that is compatible with the
license of the code that you are documenting, to allow cut/pasting
examples between the two. The GFDL doesn't fulfil that.
However, just to correct Branden, being GPL-imcompatible does not make
the GFDL non-free. There are other reasons that make the GFDL non-free.
Thanks,
Peter
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