On Wednesday 02 May 2007 11:13:48 Andrew Sidwell wrote:
> Redistribution of unaltered copies of this document is permitted without
> restriction. Distribution of altered copies is permitted without
> restriction as long as the alteration does not significantly alter the
> content (For example, translation and conversion to another format is
> permitted.). Distribution of all other altered copies is permitted as
> long as credit for previous authors is maintained, the contact
> information is replaced with that of the alterer, and redistribution is
> not further restricted.
With the third case ("all other altered copies") which is what would apply
if you start changing the manual, you've got to:
1) Maintain credit for previous authors.
This is fine. Most free licenses, like the GPL, require you to keep the
copyright notice as-is; this is even less restrictive.
2) Put your contact information.
This is fine. Many free licenses, like the GPL, require you to mark altered
copies with the date of modification; this is even less restrictive.
3) Don't add any further restrictions.
This is fine. However, you can't further restrict things, so you basically
have to use the same license. This is basically a (non-GPL compatible) form
of copyleft.
> I'd just like to check if this is DFSG-free or not; I think it is, but
> since one of the reasons for making the code Free is so it can be
> included in Linux distributions and use services like SourceForge, I
> don't want to inadvertently introduce non-free stuff into the game.
It's DFSG free, but it doesn't seem GPL compatible because of #3. I could
see the documentation being under a different license as the code being
slightly annoying, but not a DFSG problem.
--
Wesley J. Landaker <wjl@icecavern.net> <xmpp:wjl@icecavern.net>
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