Re: --version output change proposal

[Bruno Haible]

Hello Karl,

>  sort (GNU coreutils) 6.4
>  Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
>  License GPLv2+: GNU GPL version 2 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses>
>  This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
>  There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

My gut feeling is that it's well done and concise. Like Jim, I like it.

However, some legal nitpickers might say that the line
"you are free to change and redistribute it" establishes different licensing
terms than the GPL does, and that therefore the juxtaposition of both
statements is contradictory, or at least confusing.

> rms wanted to have some extra words in there.  He wrote:
>     Remember, our goal is NOT merely to give experts information.
>     We need to be looking for opportunities to spread the basic
>     ideas of free software.   Never focus on the former in a way
>     that ignores the latter.

The "you are free to change and redistribute it" explains more about the
free software idea than the previous texts did.

Bruno