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Re: The draft Position statement on the GFDL



Humberto Massa wrote:
> @ 12/05/2004 16:12 : wrote Josh Triplett :
>> Humberto Massa wrote:
>>> 5. I will diff the sources from the resulting program with the 
>>> original sources
>>
>> This diff is a derived work of your program and the original sources.
>>
>>> -- no license violation.
>>> 6. I will write a script that like this:
>>>   mkdir ~/metagcc; chdir ~/metagcc
>>>   wget $PATH_TO_GCC_SOURCES
>>>   tar xzvf $GCC_SOURCES
>>>   wget $PATH_TO_METAFONT_SOURCES
>>>   tar xzvf $METAFONT_SOURCES
>>>   patch -p1 ../../metagcc.patch
>>
>> metagcc.patch is a derived work of your metagcc, which is a derived work
>> of both gcc and metafont, so you cannot distribute metagcc.patch unless
>> it satisfies the terms of gcc's license and metafont's license.
>>
>> Even if that is not the case, wouldn't this script constitute
>> "contributory infringement"?
>>  
>>
> Only if this is the case (if I can't distribute metagcc.patch). I don't
> know about metagcc license (which I think is the OPL, but I'm not
> certain of it). And contributory infringement is an
> USofA-jurisdiction-specific thing, here in Brasil there is no such
> entity. And I'm sure it's the case in many places.

Good to know.  The first point was more important anyway.  I am not
particularly familiar with contributory infringement, and I was simply
curious if it applied here.

> My primary tought is that: not containing gcc nor metafont code, and
> being on its entirety of my original copyright, EMPHASIS: being entirely
> *my* intellectual creation, I can license metafont.patch differently, I
> am the sole copyright holder to it, as I can license the script, but
> this can be wrong. I'll think a little bit more. The script does not
> seem to be a derived work on any of them.

The script is obviously not a derived work of GCC or Metafont. However,
you stated that you were taking GCC and Metafont, creating a derived
work from them (which you don't distribute), diffing that derived work
against the original GCC and Metafont sources (creating a patch that is
derived from your previous derived work of GCC and Metafont), and
distributing that patch.  It seems like any such patch would have to be
a derived work of both GCC and Metafont.

- Josh Triplett



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