Re: Start for a discussion about free documentation in Debian.
On Sat, 8 Aug 1998, Marcus Brinkmann wrote:
>
> b) Non-technical documents.
> I listed the following:
>
> 1. Trademarks, Copyrights
I'm playing devil's advocate here, I admit. But why shouldn't copyright's
be free? I mean, obviously I can't change the copyright under which you
place your piece of work. But, if I want to put some unrelated work of
mine under a copyright, and I choose to invent a new copyright (license)
of my own, which I derive from the one you use, why should this upset
you?
For example, you included in your first email a copyright based on the
GPL. A derivative work of the GPL, in fact. According to the GPL's
copyright, you have just broken the law. This strikes me as a little
odd.
> 2. Personal opinions, email quotes
> 3. essays, graphic novels
>
> I think everybody agrees that we don't benefit from changing these, and we
> shouldn't change them. (As this would probably be a violation of the
> personality of the author). Are they only acceptable in non-free (as Jules
> says), or do we allow them in main (Manoj and me)?
>
Maybe you don't want to change them. But, before agreeing that they are
OK in main, ask yourself, 'Might I, or might one of our users, want to
create a derived work?'
One of the advantages of main, IMHO, is that I know I can create a dervied
work from anything therein, without carefully reading the license. I
would not like to give up that right too easily...
Disclaimer: I don't feel as strongly about this as I perhaps seem to. If
the body of opinion is against me, I will vote with Marcus and Manoj. But
I raise these issues for completeness..
Jules
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| 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* |
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| War doesn't demonstrate who's right... just who's left. |
| When privacy is outlawed... only the outlaws have privacy. |
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