Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

[Mathieu Roy <yeupou@gnu.org>]

"Joe Moore" <joemoore@iegrec.org> a tapoté :

> Mathieu Roy said:
> > Walter Landry <wlandry@ucsd.edu> a tapoté :
> >> There is also the definition of transparent forms.  I can't distribute
> >> GFDL'd documents I write in Openoffice or LyX.
> >
> > The fact that you cannot write GFDLed document with OpenOffice or LyX
> > (which are not at all in a preferred form for modification) does not
> > make documentation GFDLed that others persons wrote, in the preferred
> > form for modification, non-free.
> 
> So the GFDL not only restricts you from storing works in certain formats
> (those restricted by DRM measures), but even from creating them in certain
> formats in the first place?

Oups, I forgot to be supra-explicit.

Please add to 
        "The fact that you cannot write GFDLed document with
        OpenOffice or LyX" 
the following
        without providing an copy in a suitable form for modification
        without having the software you are using.

> > If you write a GFDLed document with OpenOffice, you must provide
> > along with the OpenOffice version another version, in a preferred
> > form for modification. It's an obligation you accept to follow
> > when you decide to license under the GFDL a documentation.
> 
> This is not an excessive burden?  In order to release a GFDL'd document, I
> have to learn how to create paragraph markup in a GFDL-sanctioned "preferred
> format", rather than just clicking "Bold" in OpenOffice?  I have to learn
> how to create tables in TeX, rather than letting LyX take care of that?

I believe that OpenOffice can export a document into a text file,
which is suitable for modification with a text editor.

But in fact, OpenOffice format may be even considered as acceptable:

        A "Transparent" copy of the Document means a machine-readable
        copy, represented in a format whose specification is available
        to the general public, that is suitable for revising the
        document straightforwardly with generic text editors or (for
        images composed of pixels) generic paint programs or (for
        drawings) some widely available drawing editor, and that is
        suitable for input to text formatters or for automatic
        translation to a variety of formats suitable for input to text
        formatters. A copy made in an otherwise Transparent file
        format whose markup, or absence of markup, has been arranged
        to thwart or discourage subsequent modification by readers is
        not Transparent. An image format is not Transparent if used
        for any substantial amount of text. A copy that is not
        "Transparent" is called "Opaque". 

Maybe we can consider that your OpenOffice file "is suitable for input
to text formatters or for automatic translation to a variety of
formats suitable for input to text formatters".

But basically, you are still looking for technical potential issues
which, if you can legally confirm the issues, would be changed by the
FSF because these potential issues are not on purpose.



-- 
Mathieu Roy
 
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