"Thomas Preud'homme" <robotux@celest.fr> writes: > Le lundi 19 mars 2012 02:17:05, vous avez écrit : > > If the preferred form of a software work is the same as the one used > > directly by programs for displaying the image, then that doesn't > > change the fact that it's the source form of the work. > > Agree again but I have one question. Maybe the answer is obvious but > who is to decide what is the preferred form? Ultimately, a judge would decide in a court case. > Is it supposed to be the preferred form for the author. If it's the > user then it gets a bit complicated because it could vary from one > user to another. Theoretically, it can vary. But in most cases it should be clear. For PNG files generated automatically from SVG, clearly the SVG is the preferred form of the work for making further modifications. > > Whether he actually did modify them, a judgement needs to be made: > > for the software work that actually ends up in the binary package, > > what is the preferred form of that software (in this case, a graphic > > image file) for making modifications to it? > > If I were to decide the SVG would be the preferred form, even for > image which were modified from the png. If you want to modify the text > on an image for instance, it is much easier to do a sed on the SVG and > the reapply whatever transformation the author did. > > However opinions could diverge here and I think "preferred form" is > not about a taste but about an absolute truth. I understand it as > "what is the easiest way to make modification". With the further caveats that forms of the work which no longer exist cannot qualify as “preffered form”, and non-software (i.e. not digital information) forms of the work cannot qualify. Don't get distracted by commonly-raised claims that some specific set of physical objects in front of a camera must be the “preferred form”. They're not software, and hence they don't get distributed in Debian. The caveat about existing is made because, even if someone might prefer it, it's not a form of the work since it no longer exists. The form of the work actually distributed as the “preferred form” must be a choice between options that actually exist. > I would say the SVG is the preferred form, even if upstream author > didn't use it. It's only the preferred form *of the work* if it is actually the source form of *this work*, i.e. it includes all modifications or whatever automatic transformations are needed to achieve those modifications. If this work has diverged from some version of the SVG, then that SVG is no longer the source form of this work, and doesn't satisfy the source requirement of the GPL (nor of Debian). > It's also the safest path as pointed out Simon McVittie. I will thus > include the svg in addition of the png for the non modified files. I > suspect the size increase should be quite minimal anyway. I agree with Paul Wise that it would be ideal to convince upstream to distribute the SVGs that directly correspond to the actual PNGs in the package, so they can more clearly be used as the source form of the work. -- \ “Your [government] representative owes you, not his industry | `\ only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, | _o__) if he sacrifices it to your opinion.” —Edmund Burke, 1774 | Ben Finney <ben@benfinney.id.au>
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