On Fri, Jan 28, 2005 at 09:49:08PM +0100, Frank K�ster wrote: > Let's assume a piece of technical documentation (standalone, i.e not > part of a software package; something like selfhtml or LaTeX's lshort), > is licensed under GPL, with an additional text stating what the > preferred form for modification is (say, LaTeX or docbook).
If you "specify" what the preferred form of modification is, you're not using the GPL. The GPL doesn't say what the preferred form is. This is extremely important: I can always take your work--say, a program written in Pascal--convert it to C, modify it, and discard the Pascal source, as long as the new C code really is my preferred form for modification. (That is, I can't modify a program, wave my hands around saying "this assembly dump is my preferred form" and only distribute that--that's just fraudulent.) (Obviously, the old Pascal code may be useful, but only as documentation, not source code--that's very different.) The GPL doesn't lock a work into a particular source form--if you've said "the preferred form for modification is Pascal", it's not at all clear what happens when the preferred form has become something else as the program evolves. It's also not clear what happens when I link your Pascal code against my C code when your code effectively says "must include Pascal source code". The GPL very deliberately does not specify the preferred form for modification, and authors shouldn't do so (at least not in a legally-binding way or an attempt to "interpret" the GPL). Note, also, that the GPL says "preferred form for modification", not "the form for modification preferred by the original author". This has come up several times, so I'm CCing [EMAIL PROTECTED] to get their take on this. FSF folks: please ignore the documentation aspect above; I'm interested in the general problem of people "specifying" the preferred form for modification, which I believe is tantamount to placing an additional restriction beyond the GPL. Let me know if I'm way off base. -- Glenn Maynard -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
