Official policy statement: Debian's Relationship with FSF
DEBIAN's RELATIONSHIP WITH FSF
We want to be able to work with FSF, but we acknowledge that our goals
sometimes differ from those of FSF. Thus, we've set down some policy items
for our relationship with FSF and others. We feel that these policies align
us with FSF's major goals, and at the same time give us the freedom to make
our own design decisions for the system.
1. The core of the Debian distribution must be entirely freely
redistributable software. Non-essential accessories may have
different licensing terms, but we of course encourage their authors
to make them freely redistributable.
2. We assert that the GPL and LGPL are our preferred software licenses. Other
licenses that make software freely redistributable, such as the BSD license,
the "Artistic" license, and public-domain are acceptable to us.
3. We recognize and honor the contribution of BSD, FSF, independent
hackers, businesses, schools, students, and people who write
directly for Debian, and do not place a greater attribution on one
group than any other.
4. Any interested party is welcome to participate in Debian as a peer
with all other Debian contributors and repackagers. An overriding
priority will not be placed on any one group's requirements.
We invite FSF and any other organization to participate under these
terms.
5. The name of this distribution is currently "Debian Linux". The name
may change, but we don't plan on using the GNU name, simply because
we have different management and slightly different goals from those
of FSF's GNU project. We've been using the baby GNU logo, but we
will cede that to FSF so that they can use it on their own
repackaging of Debian. FSF is welcome to market their own version
of Debian as "Official GNU Linux" or any name they choose.
6. We recommend that Linuxdoc-SGML be used for documentation.
Linuxdoc-SGML is an markup language that generates texinfo, groff,
and HTML. It generates documentation in a format that is compatible
with both Debian's and FSF's requirements. We continue to accept any
machine-readable documentation format that can be rendered using free
software tools.
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Pixar Animation Studios: Reality is not our business.
Pixar's "Toy Story" $184,592,498 domestic, $49 million overseas and counting.
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