Re: GFDL

2003-09-26 Thread Jan Schumacher
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 On Monday 22 September 2003 08:49, Andreas Barth wrote: If the whole docu would be DFSG-free, than there would be no cause to remove polical statements. On Wednesday 24 September 2003 01:12, Richard Stallman wrote: According to Don

Re: GFDL

2003-09-26 Thread Branden Robinson
[RMS not CCed] On Tue, Sep 23, 2003 at 07:13:31PM -0400, Richard Stallman wrote: FYI, that's not going to convince anyone. We could all speculate about what might or might not convince certain other persons, but doing so is attempting to speak for them, so let's not do it. Hmm. By

Re: GFDL

2003-09-26 Thread Wouter Verhelst
On Tue, Sep 23, 2003 at 07:13:30PM -0400, Richard Stallman wrote: I would not release a reference card under either the GFDL or the GPL, because both of them are long enough that the requirement to distribute them along with the reference card is burdensome. But surely this doesn't imply they

Re: GFDL

2003-09-26 Thread Mathieu Roy
Branden Robinson [EMAIL PROTECTED] a tapoté : [RMS not CCed] On Tue, Sep 23, 2003 at 07:13:31PM -0400, Richard Stallman wrote: FYI, that's not going to convince anyone. We could all speculate about what might or might not convince certain other persons, but doing so is attempting

Re: Why documentation and programs should not be treated alike

2003-09-26 Thread Wouter Verhelst
On Tue, Sep 23, 2003 at 07:13:13PM -0400, Richard Stallman wrote: In the compiled form of a manual, as long as there is no DRM to stop you from reading it, everything that matters is plain to see. You see the contents, and you even see the fonts and indentation that were selected by the

Re: There was never a chance of a GFDL compromise

2003-09-26 Thread Richard Stallman
This reinforces my conclusion that it is essential for these sections to be unremovable as well as unmodifiable. To serve the ends of GNU, perhaps. But it doesn't seem to serve the needs of the larger Free Software community. It serves the free software community by resisting

Re: License requirements for DSP binaries?

2003-09-26 Thread Florian Weimer
On Tue, Sep 23, 2003 at 08:25:44PM -0400, Nathanael Nerode wrote: If it's licensed under the GPL, and no source is provided, then it can not be distributed at all, not even in non-free, unless there never was source to begin with. (I assume this isn't the case, as you said no source code is

use of official logo in app splash screens

2003-09-26 Thread Rene Engelhard
[ If you do not reply to d-openoffice, too, lease CC me. However, Reply-To: is set to all three lists ] Hi, On releases@openoffice.org recently was announced [1] that there is now the Sun logo embedded into the OOo splash screen and that vendors are encouraged to add their logos to the screen

Re: use of official logo in app splash screens

2003-09-26 Thread Simon Law
On releases@openoffice.org recently was announced [1] that there is now the Sun logo embedded into the OOo splash screen and that vendors are encouraged to add their logos to the screen instead of the Sun things So, we want to add the Debian Logo there.

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread MJ Ray
On 2003-09-23 20:20:41 +0100 Scott James Remnant [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: It is also known that undesirable stunts limiting freedom, such as Invariant sections, are allowed under the FSF's definition of free. FSF do not claim that FDL-covered works are free software, use a particular odd

Re: License requirements for DSP binaries?

2003-09-26 Thread Jan Schumacher
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 On Friday 26 September 2003 08:48, Florian Weimer wrote: On Tue, Sep 23, 2003 at 08:25:44PM -0400, Nathanael Nerode wrote: If it's licensed under the GPL, and no source is provided, then it can not be distributed at all, not even in non-free,

Re: What does GFDL do?

2003-09-26 Thread Brian T. Sniffen
Richard Stallman [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: While you are free to state the terms by which the GFDL should be interpreted for GNU documentation, this is not always the case. We have in the past seen cases where copyright holders have interpreted seemingly unambiguous statements

Re: GFDL

2003-09-26 Thread Branden Robinson
On Fri, Sep 26, 2003 at 08:34:26AM +0200, Mathieu Roy wrote: Branden Robinson [EMAIL PROTECTED] a tapoté : On Tue, Sep 23, 2003 at 07:13:31PM -0400, Richard Stallman wrote: FYI, that's not going to convince anyone. We could all speculate about what might or might not convince

Re: Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Carl Witty
Software is not a controversial word in English (roughly inverse of hardware in one sense). Some people advocate a bizarre definition of it in order to further their agenda. If you're going to define common words just because someone objects to the normal meaning being used, you'll get some

Re: GFDL

2003-09-26 Thread Richard Stallman
I value freedom in documentation just as much as I do for programs. I value it so much that I designed the GFDL specifically to induce commercial publishers to publish free documentation. You don't value the freedom to modify the whole book. You value freedom in

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Richard Stallman
I don't think that section titles are a problem--it would not be hard to put them in a program. But it is true that you cannot take text from a GFDL-covered manual and put it into most free programs. This is because the GFDL is incompatible with the normal free software

Re: There was never a chance of a GFDL compromise

2003-09-26 Thread Richard Stallman
While superficially ironic, this is in fact quite fundamental: you cannot truly build a free society without granting its participants the freedom to reject the very notion of freedom itself. The idea that people should be free to reject freedom is a fundamental philosophical

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Richard Stallman
I am seeing a persistent pattern where you accuse me of dishonesty based on little except supposition. Here are several examples from the mail I received last night. Thomas Bushnell proposed another interpretation, in which certain things that are included in the Debian package files

Re: There was never a chance of a GFDL compromise

2003-09-26 Thread Richard Stallman
Not long ago, people were trying to reassure me that if invariant sections were removable, nobody would remove them. I guess not. This reinforces my conclusion that it is essential for these sections to be unremovable as well as unmodifiable. You have misunderstood.

Re: Unidentified subject!

2003-09-26 Thread Richard Stallman
1) Because the borders between the cases are ambiguous and uncertain. I sent a message a day or two ago (perhaps after you sent this one) which addresses that issue. 2) Because we want to be able to combine works from different sources, As I explained, this desire is usually impossible

Re: There was never a chance of a GFDL compromise

2003-09-26 Thread Richard Stallman
You should probably read the whole thread before replying. Prior to this message, I must have read half-a-dozen or more messages saying... I can't do that. Those messages probably did not arrive on my machine until after I sent my message out. I do mail transfers in batches,

GFDL

2003-09-26 Thread Richard Stallman
As has been pointed out before, such a proposal doesn't belong here. The function of -legal is to interpret the DFSG and vet the free-ness of software[1] licenses in accordance with said interpretation. It is *not* its role to decide which parts of Debian the DFSG should adhere to

Re: There was never a chance of a GFDL compromise

2003-09-26 Thread Richard Stallman
If the whole doc was DFSG free, I believe no Debian maintainer would remove the political statements one could find in it. Two people have just said they would remove any essay that cannot be modified. Notice that the first person said DFSG free, and you

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Richard Stallman
I don't think it needs to be possible to use text from manuals in a program. A manual is free if you can publish modified versions as manuals. And is a text editor free if you can only publish modified versions as text editors -- not as manuals or tetris games or

Re: Unidentified subject!

2003-09-26 Thread Richard Stallman
Your casual suggestion to pick whichever seems better leaves out the object: better for whom? For the Free Software community? For the Free Software Foundation, whose goals are quite different? That is a cheap shot, because it reflects only your decision to be nasty. I could make

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Richard Stallman
You have previously suggested we should consider whether documentation is free, based on the four basic freedoms as specified on http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/ . That includes 'the freedom to run the program, for any purpose'. Since a manual can't be run, I'll interpret that as

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Richard Stallman
We want to have freedom over what we distribute in binary packages. We are willing to tolerate noxious restrictions like the TeX ones only because they do not impact what we can distribute in the binary package: they only restrict the hoops that the source package must go

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Richard Stallman
Everything in Debian is software; the official logo is not free, and therefore is not in Debian. Fortunately it is not necessary for me to understand this.

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Thomas Bushnell, BSG
Richard Stallman [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I don't agree that the latter is the important question. I think the former is the question that matters. I am not sure if the GFDL is a free software license, but I don't think the question matters. When people said the GFDL is incompatible with

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Thomas Bushnell, BSG
Richard Stallman [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: This has been explained to you enough times that your attempt to pretend it hasn't can no longer be attributed to ignorance. I am not pretending anything--I consider the issue a red herring. So I have addressed the issues I think are

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Thomas Bushnell, BSG
Richard Stallman [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Everything in Debian is software; the official logo is not free, and therefore is not in Debian. Fortunately it is not necessary for me to understand this. Many things are on Debian servers which are not part of the Debian system. The

Re: Unidentified subject!

2003-09-26 Thread Thomas Bushnell, BSG
Richard Stallman [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: 1) Because the borders between the cases are ambiguous and uncertain. I sent a message a day or two ago (perhaps after you sent this one) which addresses that issue. By saying everything has ambiguous and uncertain borders. But hey! We don't

Re: GFDL

2003-09-26 Thread Mathieu Roy
The reason why he does not want to talk with you have nothing to do with your arguments/point of view. Oh, well, that's a relief. It's much better that he dislikes me due to my height or the color of my skin or something. Did I said that? I'll give you a hint, Mathieu, since you have

Re: GFDL

2003-09-26 Thread Thomas Bushnell, BSG
Richard Stallman [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I value freedom in documentation just as much as I do for programs. I value it so much that I designed the GFDL specifically to induce commercial publishers to publish free documentation. You don't value the freedom to modify

Re: There was never a chance of a GFDL compromise

2003-09-26 Thread Peter S Galbraith
Richard Stallman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The GFDL is doing its job by guarding against this. Debian may label our manuals as non-free, an appelation I disagree with and will criticize, but at least it cannot remove them. Sure it can. It can move them to non-free. (Or perhaps you mean the

Re: GFDL

2003-09-26 Thread Branden Robinson
On Fri, Sep 26, 2003 at 06:58:28PM +0200, Mathieu Roy wrote: Apparently you need an hint too: this is about your harsh and aggressive attitude. ...which is irrelevant to the cogency of my arguments, or lack thereof. But in actual fact I've been unfailingly polite to RMS, as far as I can

Re: There was never a chance of a GFDL compromise

2003-09-26 Thread Branden Robinson
[RMS not CCed] On Wed, Sep 24, 2003 at 07:09:20PM -0400, Richard Stallman wrote: Perhaps I misundertood those messages a few months ago. Or perhaps you misunderstood them, or misunderstood my reference to them, or you forgot about them. As human beings, we cannot avoid the risk of

Re: Starting to talk

2003-09-26 Thread Stephen Ryan
On Fri, 2003-09-26 at 04:25, Thomas Bushnell, BSG wrote: Stephen Ryan [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: No, you're not the only one with that impression. Personally, I'm ready to killfille [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a bunch of trolls. The only reason I haven't is that I think there are some people

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Glenn Maynard
On Mon, Sep 22, 2003 at 03:45:09PM -0700, Thomas Bushnell, BSG wrote: My girlfriend photography sitting on my computer is not free software. That's not something I think important to be shared. And it can't be part of Debian as long as it's not free. I'm not saying there should never

Re: Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread MJ Ray
On 2003-09-24 23:12:06 +0100 Carl Witty [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Software is a controversial word in English. Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes. -- Monty Python's Flying Circus. In an informal

FSF has stopped linking to Debian website

2003-09-26 Thread Branden Robinson
[Followups set.] Compare: http://web.archive.org/web/20021128102620/http://www.gnu.org/links/links.html with: http://www.ofb.biz/modules.php?name=Newsfile=articlesid=260 This change was quite recent (since 14 August 2003), if we are to accept as true the assertion in the first comment on the

Re: FSF has stopped linking to Debian website

2003-09-26 Thread Branden Robinson
On Fri, Sep 26, 2003 at 02:23:37PM -0500, Branden Robinson wrote: Compare: http://web.archive.org/web/20021128102620/http://www.gnu.org/links/links.html with: http://www.ofb.biz/modules.php?name=Newsfile=articlesid=260 You know, I just love how screen is always forgetting what the X

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Thomas Bushnell, BSG
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Thomas Bushnell, BSG) writes: I am not saying that the DFSG is evil, just that it isn't free (and our logos aren't either), and therefore can't be in a free OS (and so also our logos can't). Of course I meant GFDL where I said DFSG. Sorry for the confusion.

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Brian T. Sniffen
Carl Witty [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Software is not a controversial word in English (roughly inverse of hardware in one sense). Some people advocate a bizarre definition of it in order to further their agenda. If you're going to define common words just because someone objects to the normal

Re: GFDL

2003-09-26 Thread Brian T. Sniffen
Richard Stallman [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: If the whole document would be DFSG-free, than there would be no cause to remove political statements. According to Don Armstrong, a non-modifiable text cannot under any circumstances be considered DFSG-free, It *might* be possible to

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Mathieu Roy
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Brian T. Sniffen) a tapoté : Carl Witty [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Software is not a controversial word in English (roughly inverse of hardware in one sense). Some people advocate a bizarre definition of it in order to further their agenda. If you're going to define

Re: Attribution-ShareAlike License

2003-09-26 Thread Edmund GRIMLEY EVANS
Seth David Schoen [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Adobe has patents which it claims apply to PDF and has licensed them only for the purpose of creating compatible implementations. http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/legalnotices.jsp If you modified an application which implements PDF so that it

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Branden Robinson
On Wed, Sep 24, 2003 at 09:58:50PM -0400, Glenn Maynard wrote: On Mon, Sep 22, 2003 at 03:45:09PM -0700, Thomas Bushnell, BSG wrote: I'm not saying there should never be non-free stuff--only that the DFSG manuals are not free. (Because they fail the GFDL, of course.) /me does a double

Re: Starting to talk

2003-09-26 Thread Remi Vanicat
MJ Ray [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: On 2003-09-23 02:38:44 +0100 Remi Vanicat [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Whoa. You don't agree with me/the majority, so go away... I don't like the way you say this. That's probably because I didn't write that at all. Feel free to put whatever words you want

a DFSG/GNU FDL quick reference webpage

2003-09-26 Thread Branden Robinson
I have occasionally received requests in private mail for some links to a document summarizing Debian's position on the GNU FDL as it relates to the DFSG. As we know, there isn't any one canonical document, but I think we've reached the point where a few mailing list messages and existing essays

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Brian T. Sniffen
Mathieu Roy [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Brian T. Sniffen) a tapoté : Carl Witty [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Software is not a controversial word in English (roughly inverse of hardware in one sense). Some people advocate a bizarre definition of it in order to further

Re: Attribution-ShareAlike License

2003-09-26 Thread Thomas Bushnell, BSG
Seth David Schoen [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Adobe has patents which it claims apply to PDF and has licensed them only for the purpose of creating compatible implementations. http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/legalnotices.jsp If you modified an application which implements PDF so

Re: a DFSG/GNU FDL quick reference webpage

2003-09-26 Thread Peter S Galbraith
Branden Robinson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have, therefore, updated my FDL webpage: http://people.debian.org/~branden/fdl/ Many many many thanks for doing this! Peter

Re: License requirements for DSP binaries?

2003-09-26 Thread Brian T. Sniffen
Florian Weimer [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: On Tue, Sep 23, 2003 at 08:25:44PM -0400, Nathanael Nerode wrote: If it's licensed under the GPL, and no source is provided, then it can not be distributed at all, not even in non-free, unless there never was source to begin with. (I assume this

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread MJ Ray
On 2003-09-26 21:48:48 +0100 Mathieu Roy [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: 1. Is this MP3 file software or hardware? This is one is definitely worse: you explicitely point out which definition of the word software you think is the most usual, by asking to refer to this definition. ITYM implicitly.

Re: Re: License requirements for DSP binaries?

2003-09-26 Thread Glenn Maynard
On Tue, Sep 23, 2003 at 08:25:44PM -0400, Nathanael Nerode wrote: We should allow it if source code once existed but no longer exists (all the copies of the source code were wiped accidentally at some time in the past). (This has happened with old games and firmware fairly often, and the

Re: Unidentified subject!

2003-09-26 Thread Nathanael Nerode
Thomas Bushnell, BSG wrote: We reject the GFDL because it is not merely incomptability of licenses. Here's the test. I want to write a brand new program. I insist it be free software, but I am otherwise entirely agnostic about which free software license I use. I will use any license. I

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Nathanael Nerode
Richard Stallman wrote: I don't think it needs to be possible to use text from manuals in a program. A manual is free if you can publish modified versions as manuals. And is a text editor free if you can only publish modified versions as text editors -- not as manuals or

solution to GFDL and DSFG problem

2003-09-26 Thread Zedor Fuev
I will both consent and interests of users and unoriginal. You can believe that personally You do not use any more abstract important cases, this list software is not be counted copyrightable. Please for the document by European copyright regime; which, can be; governed by here, in GPL

Re: stepping in between Debian and FSF [Was: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal]

2003-09-26 Thread Bruce Perens
From: Anthony DeRobertis [EMAIL PROTECTED] As a matter of principle, the RMS and, I assume, the FSF want invariant sections. Actually, I am not convinced that FSF _as_an_organization_ wants invariant sections. It appears so far that when they are coupled to _software_documentation_ that they

Re: GFDL

2003-09-26 Thread Andreas Barth
* Richard Stallman ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) [030926 01:00]: If the whole docu would be DFSG-free, than there would be no cause to remove polical statements. According to Don Armstrong, a non-modifiable text cannot under any circumstances be considered DFSG-free, so it would have to be

coupling software documentation and political speech in the GFDL

2003-09-26 Thread Bruce Perens
It seems to me that the GFDL conflict is a conflict between the needs of political speech, and the needs of of software documentation. None of the parties disagree about the needs of software documentation. Nobody is seriously proposing to allow the actual part of the text that documents software

Re: A possible GFDL compromise: a proposal

2003-09-26 Thread Fedor Zuev
On Mon, 22 Sep 2003, Roland Mas wrote: Arnoud Galactus Engelfriet, 2003-09-22 20:40:07 +0200 : Given the amount of discussion this topic has started, perhaps it might be a good idea to do it anyway, if only to reduce the confusion for those who are not native speakers of English. In the

Re: License requirements for DSP binaries?

2003-09-26 Thread Edmund GRIMLEY EVANS
Florian Weimer [EMAIL PROTECTED]: We should allow it if source code once existed but no longer exists (all the copies of the source code were wiped accidentally at some time in the past). So it's okay to ignore the DFSG in this case? It's not ignoring the DFSG; it's interpreting

Re: Why documentation and programs should not be treated alike

2003-09-26 Thread Edmund GRIMLEY EVANS
Richard Stallman [EMAIL PROTECTED]: This is why the GFDL does not require complete corresponding source code for a published manual. It's easier to change the manual if you have this, but no disaster if you don't: you just have to write your own mark-up, which is pretty straightforward. The

Re: use of official logo in app splash screens

2003-09-26 Thread Josselin Mouette
Le mer 24/09/2003 à 16:43, Simon Law a écrit : Now, we wonder if we are allowed to use the official logo (because it is a Debian-product, the Debian-Pakete of OpenOffice.org) or if we should use the open one? The official one is not acceptable for this use. The open use

Re: GFDL and incompatibility

2003-09-26 Thread Thomas Bushnell, BSG
Richard Stallman [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I have never considered the question of whether the GFDL is a free software license. The question seems purely academic, since it is (1) not meant as a license for programs, and (2) clearly an annoying license to use for programs. So I don't know

Re: GFDL

2003-09-26 Thread Thomas Bushnell, BSG
Richard Stallman [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: If the whole docu would be DFSG-free, than there would be no cause to remove polical statements. According to Don Armstrong, a non-modifiable text cannot under any circumstances be considered DFSG-free, so it would have to be removed from

Re: GFDL

2003-09-26 Thread Thomas Bushnell, BSG
Richard Stallman [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: We are talking about two different kinds of packaging. When I speak of a packaging requirement I'm talking about a requirement that applies to the form of a program or other work, but not the substance. This a different kind of packaging from the

Re: Starting to talk

2003-09-26 Thread Thomas Bushnell, BSG
Stephen Ryan [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: No, you're not the only one with that impression. Personally, I'm ready to killfille [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a bunch of trolls. The only reason I haven't is that I think there are some people worth listening to who are part of gnu, but you'd never know it

Re: Why documentation and programs should not be treated alike

2003-09-26 Thread Thomas Bushnell, BSG
Richard Stallman [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I think that nontechnical invariant comments do not make a program non-free, but not for those reasons. The reason is that this is a packaging requirement that doesn't really restrict you from making the program substantively behave as you want it

Re: License requirements for DSP binaries?

2003-09-26 Thread D. Starner
Florian Weimer [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: On Tue, Sep 23, 2003 at 08:25:44PM -0400, Nathanael Nerode wrote: We should allow it if source code once existed but no longer exists (all the copies of the source code were wiped accidentally at some time in the past). So it's okay to ignore

Re: a DFSG/GNU FDL quick reference webpage

2003-09-26 Thread Jeremy Hankins
Branden Robinson [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I have, therefore, updated my FDL webpage: http://people.debian.org/~branden/fdl/ If you have additional links to suggest, please do so in reply to this message (replying to the list is fine). There's also: