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Re: [Gnu-arch-users] [OT] Debian should move all GPL sw to non-free
From: |
Stephen J. Turnbull |
Subject: |
Re: [Gnu-arch-users] [OT] Debian should move all GPL sw to non-free |
Date: |
Mon, 29 Mar 2004 21:23:45 +0900 |
User-agent: |
Gnus/5.1006 (Gnus v5.10.6) XEmacs/21.4 (Portable Code, linux) |
>>>>> "Tom" == Tom Lord <address@hidden> writes:
Tom> When Debian takes the position that GFDL is not free, many
Tom> people listen to that. We can expect many people to
Tom> uncritically take Debian's word for it. If Debian's
Tom> collective reasoning to reach the conclusion that GFDL is not
Tom> free is flawed, then many people are misled.
But doesn't rms agree with Debian that the GFDL as written is not a
free software license? OTOH, Debian has no position on whether the
GFDL is a free documentation license, because they just don't care.[1]
AFAIK, Debian distributes software, and everything it distributes is
software by its terminology. It's definitional. (Srivasta's page
http://people.debian.org/~srivasta/Position_Statement.html indicates
that some Debian people disagree, but "it's _all_ software" is the
most commonly held, and the most coherent, position among Debian
developers.) If you want to effectively reverse the conclusion that
the GFDL is non-free, you need to attack the premise that software and
documentation can be lumped together for the purpose of creating a
software distribution.
But isn't that inherently a matter for the distributor's choice?
Footnotes:
[1] Actually, the "documentation freedoms" Srivasta lists seem
incompatible with the GFDL, so I guess they do implicitly have a
position.
--
Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp
University of Tsukuba Tennodai 1-1-1 Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN
Ask not how you can "do" free software business;
ask what your business can "do for" free software.
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] [OT] Debian should move all GPL sw to non-free, (continued)
Re: [Gnu-arch-users] [OT] Debian should move all GPL sw to non-free, James Blackwell, 2004/03/28
Re: [Gnu-arch-users] [OT] Debian should move all GPL sw to non-free, Florian Weimer, 2004/03/30
Re: [Gnu-arch-users] [OT] Debian should move all GPL sw to non-free, Andrew Suffield, 2004/03/28
Re: [Gnu-arch-users] [OT] Debian should move all GPL sw to non-free, Robin Green, 2004/03/28
Re: [Gnu-arch-users] [OT] Debian should move all GPL sw to non-free, Stephen J. Turnbull, 2004/03/29