Re: A new practical problem with invariant sections?

[Thomas Bushnell BSG <tb@becket.net>]

Craig Sanders <cas@taz.net.au> writes:

> the GPL says you must include the full machine-readable/editable source
> code, so if you can't do that in a given medium (say, a chip with 1KB
> capacity) then GPL software is not free in any medium.

Of course, but that isn't an imposition on changes.

If a GPL'd program comes with a bunch of Japanese text, then I could
always remove that text if I must transmit the program on ASCII.  I
might have a weaker less useful program, but I can at least do
something.  I might also translate the Japanese into English and
distribute that instead.  I have many options.

By contrast, if there is an invariant section written in Japanese, I
cannot remove it, I cannot distribute a translation instead, I must
instead simply not transmit the document *at all* if I am stuck with
an ASCII-only medium.

Thomas