Hi Ross, I have recently packaged FunnelWeb and its docs (in separate packages) for inclusion in Debian GNU/Linux. However, I had not realized that the docs were not covered by the GPL.
Reading the copyright notice available at http://www.ross.net/funnelweb/tutorial/copyright.html, I realize there are problems for including them after all, because all packages included must comply with the Debian Free Software Guidelines (http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines). So I think you may be interested in knowing that we won't be able to ship the manuals together with the software - that is, people receiving a Debian CDROM won't be able to browse the docs if they do not have an inet connection. Here are the points I spotted - I'd be grateful to you to confirm my reading of the copyright. I think the licence conflicts with: - section 1 (free redistribution) - the copyright does not seem to allow distribution of the docs without the software. - section 2 (source code) - I thought, reading those docs, that the HTML format you distribute may not be the "prefered format for modification". - section 3 (Derived Works) - these do not appear to be allowed. Also, the restriction on not putting them on online web sites may cause problems, because it would be easy (and used to be the default) on Debian boxes to export the doc directory as http://machine/doc/..., and the user may then inadvertantly violate the licence. I thought at first it would be a possible candidate for the "non-free" distribution that we maintain as a service to the community, but the copyright does not appear to allow distributing the docs separately from the program, so I'm afraid we can't even distribute it like this. The last possibility I see to have the FunnelWeb docs integrated in the Debian documentation system, is to provide a "wrapper package", which will allow the admin to automatically download the docs and install them, but this, as well as the non-free solution, would require net access for users who would like to browse the doc. If you wish to address this problem, I'm willing to discuss this, as are people reading the debian-legal mailing list - possibly a solution can be found, which would still make you happy while allowing us to make the docs available. In the hope we'll resolve these issues quickly, Best Regards, -- Yann Dirson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | Why make M$-Bill richer & richer ? debian-email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | Support Debian GNU/Linux: | Cheaper, more Powerful, more Stable ! http://www.altern.org/ydirson/ | Check <http://www.debian.org/>
