Please check draft font license for StixFonts - is it suitably free?
Hi All,
I am starting this thread again, devoid of the reference to fontconfig.
First I would like to say that I am not affiliated with the Stixfonts
project; I am advocate of free software
like everyone here who wants the best for our common effort.
The StixFonts project started 10 years ago by several publishing houses
of academic journals,
with the aim to create fonts for mathmetical publications.
These fonts, StixFonts, are nearing completion and at this point a draft
user license
has been made available at
http://www.stixfonts.org/user_license.html
It looks that the license is similar to that of Bitstream Vera (good!).
Could you please check the license and provide feedback to them?
[The feedback form at www.stixfonts.org is not working at the moment, I
reported it to them.]
I would expect as response something like
1. "Yes, we checked the license, and as is, it's suitable to include in
Debian!"
or
2. "As is it's not good, but if you change this specific clause to that
xyz, we could include in Debian!".
Typically with font licenses the problem arises with the ability to make
derivative works.
Articles 3 and 4 from http://www.stixfonts.org/user_license.html try to
address the issue:
``3. The Font Software may not be modified or altered in any way, except
that: (a) the Fonts may be converted from one format to another (e.g.,
from TrueType to Postscript), in which case the normal and reasonable
distortion that occurs during such conversion shall be permitted; and
(b) additional glyphs or characters may be added to the Fonts, so long
as the base set of glyphs is not modified or removed.
4. If the Fonts are augmented pursuant to Section 3(b), the name used to
denote the resulting fonts set shall not include the term “STIX” or any
similar term, and any distribution or sale of the resulting fonts set
must be free of charge unless the work is distributed or sold as part of
a larger software package.''
3b and 4 appear to restrict the modification or removal of existing
glyphs, allowing however the addition of more glyphs for better Unicode
coverage a la Bitstream Vera. Although in practice the base set of
glyphs will not probably need to be edited at all, it's an issue of freedom.
Therefore, if you feel that something needs to change in "article 3",
say so, providing a new suggested text. Remember, this is a draft license.
Such quality fonts are very difficult to find and here we have a good
chance to get it right
and have the fonts included in Debian and other distributions.
Please contribute constructively to this!
Simos
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