On Fri, 8 Dec 2006 22:47:32 +0000 (GMT) MJ Ray wrote: > Francesco Poli <frx@firenze.linux.it> wrote: > > What follows is my own analysis of the first draft of GNU FDL v2. > > I welcome any comments on my reasoning. > > As you might expect from > my summary http://mjr.towers.org.uk/blog/2006/fdl#general > I agree with most of that reasoning, Thanks for the URL. > apart from: > > > > [...] Both covers must also clearly and legibly identify you as > > > the publisher of these copies. > > > > :::: Bad: is anonymous publication disallowed? > > I don't think it matters. Pseudonymous publication seems possible, > but we must watch out for developments on this uncertainty. Well, does a "Published by anonymous" statement "crearly and legibly identify you as the publisher" ? I really doubt... Hence, I'm not so sure that anonymous publication is possible. As for pseudonymous publication (which is something different, let's remember), I don't know whether a "Published by BlackStar" statement satifies the clause... maybe, or maybe not... more probably not... > > > [...] > > > If the Modified Version includes Ancillary Sections that contain > > > no=20 material copied from the Work, you may at your option > > > designate some=20 or all of these sections as invariant. > > > > :::: Kills copyleft: anyone can add "Invariant Sections" to a GFDLed > > work > > No, it's still copyleft, because it's still distributable under the > same licence. However, it can go non-free, because FDL is not > necessarily free. Indeed, the copyleft means that the Invariant > Section propaganda is always present. It's a copyleft, just not a > sort that helps free software. Does "copyleft" mean that modified versions must stay under the same license? Or does it mean that no additional restrictions may be placed on modified versions? I think that the keystone of copyleft is the latter, not the former. Or otherwise the LGPL would *not* be a (weak) copyleft license, as it has a conversion-to-GPL clause. If you consider a GFDLed work with no Invariant Sections, it's non-free because of the other issues with the license, *but* it does not include any large chunk of unmodifiable and unremovable content. If you modify that work and add some large Invariant Sections, you obtain a work with additional restrictions, since its Invariant Sections cannot be further modified, nor removed. -- But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend. -- from _Coming to America_ ..................................................... Francesco Poli . GnuPG key fpr == C979 F34B 27CE 5CD8 DC12 31B5 78F4 279B DD6D FCF4
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