Re: DFSG + Hack typeface license with transition to proposed new source file build in Debian package

[Florian Weimer <fw@deneb.enyo.de>]

* Ian Jackson:

> Debian is not likely to accept a restriction on modifying glyphs.  We
> consider that Debian (and its downstreams and users) must be free to
> make changes - even changes that upstreams disapprove of.

We have historically accepted restrictions like these:

| The programs for computer Modern are in the public domain, and readers
| may freely generate and hand-tune their own fonts using the algorithms
| of this book.  However, use of the names is restricted:  Any fonts
| whose names cmr10 or cmbx12 or ... are identical to the standard font
| names of this book should be fully compatible with the fonts defined
| here; i.e., fonts with the same names are supposed to have precisely
| the same character coding schemes and precisely the same font metric
| files. 

I think this was even before we had the file name mapping mechanism in
the TeX distribution, which essentially makes the quoted requirement
meaningless if interpreted verbatim (although the intended meaning is
quite clear).

I'm not sure if these restrictions are still necessary from a
technical point of view because of the wide availability of font
embedding.