Re: GR proposal: GFDL with no Invariant Sections is free
Scripsit Walter Landry <wlandry@ucsd.edu>
> Whether the GFDL conflicts with the DFSG is not a matter of opinion.
> It either conflicts or it doesn't. The question is really who decides
> whether it conflicts.
It now becomes time for the obligatory reminder that
The G in DFSG stands for "guidelines".
Because they are only guidelines, I think we as a project are free to
deviate (in either direction) from a literal reading of the guidelines
when we decide whether a particular piece of software should be
considered free, if we have a good enough reason. Which is good
because sometimes the guidelines *do not have* an unambiguous literal
reading, and the most literal readings often lead to completely
spurious results which we have a sound tradition for correcting
unceremoniously. The guidelines were never meant to be anything *but*
guidelines, and so they are not phrased carefully enough to work
reliably as a bright-line test.
The decision whether or not to consider some software free *is*
eventually a matter of opinion, even though that opinion should be
guided by the DFSG. As such, it can be settled by GR.
--
Henning Makholm "En tapper tinsoldat. En dame i
spagat. Du er en lykkelig mand ..."
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