Re: Request licence review

[Andrew Sidwell <takkaria@gmail.com>]

Ben Finney wrote:
> Andrew Sidwell <andy@entai.co.uk> writes:
> 
>> I'd really like to adopt a new manual, but it's by someone we can't
>> contact, and it's under a custom licence:
>>
>> 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.
>>
>>
>> I'd just like to check if this is DFSG-free or not; I think it is
> 
> I think it isn't. Freedom to make changes is required under the DFSG,
> and this license doesn't grant that freedom: it restricts it with the
> (vague) "as long as the alteration does not significantly alter the
> content".
> 
> Whatever "significantly" means, it's non-DFSG-free to forbid changes
> to the work that are "significant".

I don't know what you mean: the last sentence of the licence allows
distribution of all "significantly altered" copies.

Andrew Sidwell