Re: sourceless PDF files, license and DFSG-freeness (was: Is tabular data in binary format acceptable for Debian ?)

[Norbert Preining <preining@logic.at>]

On So, 31 Jan 2010, Jan Hauke Rahm wrote:
> > Hm, I am sure that in the past we excluded PDF documentation because
> > there was no source for them.  Why did we do that?
> > 
> > - Because the PDF was under GPL or GFDL, licenses which explicitly
> >   requires source distribution?  Then it fits into what Steve thinks.
> > 
> > - Because the PDF was under LPPL? I'm not sure whether the LPPL requires
> >   source - it doesn't do so explicitly, but it always assumes a
> >   difference between compiled and not-compiled work, and assumes the
> >   existenc of the not-compiled work.
> > 
> >   In this case, it might be that we were just fooled by some license
> >   zealots and could just have kept the files. The same is true if the
> >   PDF has some other license that doesn't require source.
> 
> I don't know either... maybe it's DFSG?
> 
>     2 Source Code
> 
>     The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in
>     source code as well as compiled form.
> 
> Don't know if program was interpreted as "everything the damn binary
> ships" :)

Yes, that was the stance in many cases. I had discussions on that matter,
and people said that if one cannot recreate the pdf with free tools
we cannot include them.

One candidate is the font-installation-guide.pdf, which uses commercial 
fonts. We even have the source code, but we cannot include the 
pdf as it cannot be recreated.

Furthermore, be reminded that also we as upstream do NOT include .pdfs
that do not come with source.

Best wishes

Norbert
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Norbert Preining            preining@{jaist.ac.jp, logic.at, debian.org}
JAIST, Japan            TU Wien, Austria           Debian TeX Task Force
DSA: 0x09C5B094   fp: 14DF 2E6C 0307 BE6D AD76  A9C0 D2BF 4AA3 09C5 B094
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOVANT (n.)
A taxi driver's gesture, a raised hand pointed out of the window which
purports to mean 'thank you' and actually means 'fuck off out of the
way'.
			--- Douglas Adams, The Meaning of Liff