To whom it may concern:
First, we would like to express our gratitude for your continuous
commitment to the excellence in computer publishing.
Several important opensource software (most notably Ghostscript) have
been using Adobe CMap files for handling CJKV fonts. Therefore, CMap
files are very crucial for us Japanese (and possibly other CKV)
GNU/Linux users.
By courtesy of your company, CMap files are currently allowed to be
freely distributed under the license below:
------------------------------------------------------------------
All Rights Reserved.
Patents Pending
NOTICE: All information contained herein is the property
of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
Permission is granted for redistribution of this file
provided this copyright notice is maintained intact and
that the contents of this file are not altered in any
way from its original form.
PostScript and Display PostScript are trademarks of
Adobe Systems Incorporated which may be registered in
certain jurisdictions.
---------------------------------------------------------------
This is very liberal one and we really appreciate it. However, the
passage "the contents of this file are not altered in any way from its
original form" somehow contradicts with "The Open Source Definition"
(http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php) cl.3 or "Debian Free
Software Guideline" (http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines)
cl.3, thus we classified it into "non-free" category.
We should admit this is not really your problem. However, please
understand that assuring the possibility to modify files by licensing
is very important for the opensource development model in general.
We assume the phrasing here is not of extreme importance for you. The
emphasis might be put on avoiding reckless modifications and
subsequent chaos of incompatibility. With taking it into
account, we
really appreciate if you could possibly consider to change the license
in the following way:
1) To allow distribution of pristine, non-altered CMaps and "patches"
for them. Patches will be applied when CMaps are used. In this way,
modifications someone made are clearly distinguishable from the
original one.
2) Allowing modifications on condition that it requires to change the
file name.
Again, thank you for your cooperation, and appreciate if you consider
request.
Best regards,
Masayuki Hatta
On behalf of Debian JP Project
--
Masayuki Hatta
A Debian GNU/Linux official developer
Translation coordinator, Free Software Foundation
Graduate School of Economics, University of Tokyo
mhatta@gnu.org / mhatta@debian.org / mhatta@opensource.jp
ee36037@mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp / mhatta@cy.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp