Re: Free Art License
On Sun, 12 Sep 2004, Ingo Ruhnke wrote:
> Say something like a graphical image of a button that is basically
> text + a few filters to add a 3d effect and such. If I want to
> change the actually text on the image in a meaningfull way, so that
> it fits together with other buttons that ues the same style, I need
> to know the filters and parameters that where used in the process,
> however often that is something that not even the orignal author
> might remember after a few days. Won't the resulting work be
> undistributable under GPL due to the lack of source?
No. What you have currently is (from what you have explained) the
prefered form for modification. This is no different from code that is
badly documented where the author has a stroke and is no longer able
to explain his code. The prefered form for modification is still
extant, and is being distributed.
> Does the author need to manually write the process to create the
> effects down to a text file to allow meaningfull modification of the
> work at a later point since todays free software won't handle that
> situation to fullfill the GPL?
I'd suggest that the author do that, because it would be very nice to
have, and would make modification easier. However, failing to do that
wouldn't cause the work to be undistributable under the GPL, at least
to my understanding.
> > what should Debian require for things like images, fonts and movie
> > clips?
>
> Isn't the normal policy to play safe and not distribute stuff unless
> it is clear what is meant by the license?
It depends on the specific case. In my opinion, almost all of those
media types actually have a prefered form for modification. In some
cases, we aren't distributing it, and that is a bug. In other cases,
we are, and there's no real problem.
--
Frankly, if ignoring inane opinions and noisy people and not flaming
them to crisp is bad behaviour, I have not yet achieved a state of
nirvana.
-- Manoj Srivastava in 87n04pzhmh.fsf@glaurung.internal.golden-gryphon.com
http://www.donarmstrong.com http://rzlab.ucr.edu
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