Re: Distribution of license documents (fwd)
On 17 Aug 1998, Manoj Srivastava wrote:
> Sure. But the GPL dies not need the software. The GPL stands alone.
>
> Santiago> We would have just to agree on the definition of the term
> Santiago> "stand-alone".
>
> Stand alone -- not leaning on or dependeing on something
> else. The GPL stands just fine by itself. It does not depend
> on the code that uses it. It does not mention a specific software.
>
> Distribution of the software is where the dependency comes
> in. I can distribute the GPL without distributing Emacs. Or Make. Or
> any other program that uses and depends on the GPL.
>
> Why is this so hard to understand?
>
It's not.
Since this debate centers around my summary of last night, I'll explain
what I meant. I don't think that the GPL cannot standalone - I am fully
aware that it can - and when it does, I feel it should go in verbatim.
My point was that (and I know Manoj doesn't agree here) I felt we should
attempt to physically distribute the GPL with our debian packages. Even
thought we are not required to do so by law. Out of courtesy. Out of a
desire to keep users informed. Because I am looking forward to a future
when other distributions may install my .debs, and I don't know if they
have the GPL in their base-files.
In this circumstance, I feel it would remain apprpriate to place the
resultant package in main, even though it contained a non-free component
(the license itself).
Even if we do not chjange this fact, it is still the case that many of our
products (X, say) conatin licenses which are not among the 'big 4'.
These, IMO, we should continue to distribute, as an exception to our DFSG.
Thank you,
Jules
..who apologises for the lousy typing, he has a very lagged telnet link,
and correcting is too much like hard work...
/----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------\
| 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. |
\----------------------------------------------------------------------/
Reply to: