Re: [rms@gnu.org: Free Software Needs Free Documentation]
It's probably worth adding that since RMS had his high-profile 'attack' on
a man wearing an O'Reilly T-shirt, O'Reilly have come to consider the
issues.
The mod_perl book, I believe, will have at least one chapter free. Whilst
this is not yet 'there', it's a foot in the door (www.modperl.com).
In my opinion, for documentaion to go in debian/main, it should broadly
satisfy the following:
1) Freely distributable, including for-profit (of course!)
2) It must come with whatever source code was used to generate it (wml,
sgml, latex, etc...)
3) It must be possible to either modify or at least create a derived work
from it, and this new work must be freely distributable. It is
permissable that the license of the original work requires an
acknowledgement of some sort (including, perhaps, a pointer to the
original work, or an advert for the original work). It is also
permissable that the license on the original requires modified works to
change their name in some way which makes it clear that the modified work
is a distinct work from the original.
Points 5-10 of the DFSG seem to me to apply without modification.
In the context, of for example, a standards document, the license might
say:
Any works derived from this document must make clear their heritage, but
must *emphasise* that they are *not* the JellyBean Incorporated Open
Scripting (tm) standard itself, nor any version thereof.
In the context of a piece of personal opinion (such as this email) a
license might say:
You may use any of the ideas, or indeed words or sentences, in this email
without restriction, as long as it is made clear that any such derived
work is no longer my opinion.
RMS's message might suggest that we include an exclusion paragraph saying
that clauses like 'portions of this document conveying merely opinions or
actions, and not technical information, must be distributed verbatim or
not at all' - I do not personally think we need this.
Thoughts, people?
Jules
/----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------\
| Jelibean aka | jules@jellybean.co.uk | 6 Evelyn Rd |
| Jules aka | jules@debian.org | Richmond, Surrey |
| Julian Bean | jmlb2@hermes.cam.ac.uk | TW9 2TF *UK* |
+----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------+
| War doesn't demonstrate who's right... just who's left. |
| When privacy is outlawed... only the outlaws have privacy. |
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