Subject:
Re: Linux Documentation needs much work and ideas
From:
Roger ####@####.####
Date:
26 Dec 2012 16:52:46 +0000
Message-Id: <20121226165235.GA2898@localhost2.local>
>if you have the knowledge to understand some of the wikis, you can take them
>one after the other and drop a link here to ask, depending what you think is
>usefull: remove them (or mark them as obsolete), copy them to the wiki (it's
>extremely easy is no formatting is necessary).
>
>For the HOWTOs without licence, we can't use them, but we can rewrite
>the same subject, anyway most are very old, so the content is probably
>to be completely rewritten
>
>thanks
>jdd
I think I've seen this topic come-up in the past.
Personally, I think you all are getting your panties tied in a knot over
nothing. I've never seen a legal battle over documentation, and if there were,
likely a cease & desist order would be issued by a Judge, and usually obeyed.
Hence, if most of the documentation was likely submitted by ordinary users,
they're likely not going to worry about somebody simply copying their work over
to wiki as long as their names are cited within. I certainly wouldn't have an
issue. (Unless, I were a book publisher and making money from tldp.org.)
However, there's always a few wanting to have fun. Or, the documentation was
submitted by a major corporation, such as intel.com and might have some issues
with copying the documentation. Since the documentation is remaining within
the same domain name *.tldp.org, I doubt even Intel (or name your corp) would
have any issues.
Basically, my rule of thumb, if using common sense, it should be OK. If you're
paranoid about licenses, then you can try contacting the owners'. But
personally, I'd just go ahead and do it based on the low risk -- from what I
see -- ie. no real money from tldp.org. If somebody makes noise, then try to
get along. If you get a cease & desist order from a Judge, then yank the
specific material. No big deal. Let's not get so paranoid that you give
yourselves reasons to do nothing. ;-) People can end-up living in a self made
prison, by being too paranoid. Remember, the theme of Linux and GNU is Open
Source. However, we need to be respectful to prevent people from making
explicit money from open source without following the GPL licensing, etc.
My disclaimer, I'm no lawyer, but likely a lawyer will pretty much mimmick what
I just stated, as I've dealt with some risk assessment. Another thing the
lawyer will probably state, no Judge is going to waste time with such a
miniscule issue as third party documentation unless it infringes on something
making money.
One case scenario that one would need to be considered, if moving the
documentation to another seperate domain, which would hinder domain
advertisement/popularity. ie. gentoo-wiki.com documentation can't be moved to
wiki.gentoo.org, due to licensing. Supposedly has been tried to get
permission, and the owner of the domain supposedly refused -- all via hearsay
though. I have documentation on gentoo-wiki.com, and could care less if it
gets copied to gentoo.org, and would prefer the material to be copied to
gentoo.org as it's more stable. (ie. gentoo-wiki.com lost all it's data after
a year or so, and had to be all rewritten because the owner didn't do backups.)
Personally, I don't see an issue with the documentation move to Wiki. If
somebody was concerned about their documentation licensing, then you'd likely
have them within a mental list already. If you speculate there's no issue, you
could go ahead and move the documentation, or if paranoid, try contacting them
and then move the data. Or, you already know they're insane and don't want
their data touched.
Another personal opinion, you should have stated the documentor was submitting
the documentation to tldp.org, and tldp.org has the right to do with as it
pleases. If somebody wanted to protect their documentation or was concerned
about licensing, they would likely use their own server to host the material.
Shrugs. ... common sense.
Personally, I'd probably just go ahead and copy the darn stuff, so long as my
employer were not affected. ;-) Sorry for the long ramble, but had to try to
stop the pantie knot tieing contest!
--
Roger
http://rogerx.freeshell.org/
