discuss: Licenses not free. Debian. (was Re: Remote-Serial-Console-HOWTO
Subject:
Re: Licenses not free. Debian. (was Re: Remote-Serial-Console-HOWTO
From:
Colin Watson ####@####.####
Date:
7 Dec 2001 14:40:55 -0000
Message-Id: <20011207143913.GB17546@riva.ucam.org>
On Thu, Dec 06, 2001 at 09:18:51PM -0800, David Lawyer wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 06, 2001 at 07:44:59AM -0500, Guylhem Aznar wrote:
> > I have another solution - just posted an "emergency announcement" to
> > slashdot, then I will do a mass mailing (spam way) to the authors.
>
> No. I think there is no emergency. I suggest that Debian make no
> changes until it becomes clear which docs are not free.
>
> I think that a majority of LDP documents are free in the Debian sense.
> A big mistake has been made by claiming that about 1/3 of the docs are
> not free. First, the Debian definition of "free" is a lot more
> ambiguous and inclusive that the GNU one. The Debian definition became
> the definition of "Open Source" which includes stuff that Stallman
> claims is not free.
>
> But the main reason for the underestimation of the number of free LDP
> docs is that no one has really analyzed the licenses. I'm looking at
> the LDP Statistics file and note that 21.8% of docs use LDPL which has
> been counted as not free. But LDPL is free unless one puts in the doc
> itself the following statement (specified in the LDPL license itself):
It varies, largely because it isn't clear what "LDPL" is. Compare
http://www.linuxdoc.org/COPYRIGHT.html and
http://www.linuxdoc.org/LDP-COPYRIGHT.html, for instance. The former
requests that the author be notified of any modified versions, while the
latter requires the author's approval before modified versions are
distributed. My best interpretation of the DFSG is that the former is
DFSG-free and the latter isn't. However, both are listed under "LDPL" in
the database.
I have started going through all the documents listed under the LDPL in
the database and finding those that fall under the "modifiable LDPL"
category (the name may not be the best, but it'll do for now), and will
send the results to David Merrill to have the database updated. I'll
have completed this long before I need to change the Debian packages.
Incidentally, the story on Slashdot was a little misleading about how
urgent this is. Although the part of the archive containing the LDP
documents is in a slushy kind of freeze as of about two days from now,
it doesn't freeze solid until a month after that. I think there's still
plenty of time to clarify whatever needs clarifying.
--
Colin Watson ####@####.####
