Thank you for your answer - that sounds quite logic indeed. I never actually saw any application that uses a stand-alone manual as a source for contextual help - it was a general question.
I'll also remember that you are no legal advice. How may I refer to the help you provide us with? -- Sylvain savannah.gnu.org On Tue, Mar 21, 2006 at 10:52:17PM -0500, Brett Smith via RT wrote: > > [beuc - Wed Mar 15 19:56:32 2006]: > > > > Follow the requirement to use (at least) the GFDL for Savannah-hosted > > manuals, we have a question about the use of such manual in an > > integrated help system. > > > > In this forwarded message I argue that if, at runtime, a GNU GPL'd > > application open the file containing the GFDL'd documentation and > > display the relevant contextual bits to the user, then there is no > > copyright issue. > > Dear Sylvain, > > Whether or not this is true depends on the exact details of how the > documentation is integrated with the code. > > If the help system does little more than display the documentation it's > given, and it would be capable of displaying any other documentation in > the same format, then the two can be considered independent works, and > released side-by-side under any GNU licenses. > > On the other hand, if the program relies on specific details in that > particular help file, then the program would be a derivative work of the > documentation, and there'd be a licensing problem. This could be the > case, for example, if the program provides context-sensitive help by > bringing up specific sections of the manual. Since this wouldn't work > with different documentation in the same format -- it relies on a > document that has the sections referenced by the program -- it's a > derivative work. > > I hope this helps clarify the situation. If you're still not sure where > your specific program falls on this spectrum, and you can send us > specific details about how it works, I'd be happy to address your > concerns. Please note that this is not legal advice; if you need legal > advice, please contact a lawyer.
