Re: GNU FDL License on Mutopia

[David Chan]

Chris Sawer wrote:-

> I've had a submission to Mutopia which the submitter requested be
> placed under the GNU FDL (Free Documentation License). 
[...]
> I personally don't think it's suitable, as it is not designed for music
> or writing in general [...] As such, it says absolutely nothing about
> performance, etc.

I think you're right about this - it doesn't explicitly guarantee freedom
to perform and record (not in a way which is unambiguous enough to avoid
legal problems), and as such it doesn't ensure that works are "Free" in
the ways which are most useful to a musician.  (I'm not bashing Werner's
site here, which I think has a different goal from Mutopia).

Also, the license itself says, "We recommend this License principally for
works whose purpose is instruction or reference."

If people are particularly adamant about using certain licenses, then one
possibility might be to allow dual licensing: e.g. "This work may be
copied under the terms of either the GNU FDL or the MutopiaBSD license, at
the user's choice".  I wouldn't particularly recommend this if it can be
avoided, but it's how various people have resolved license issues with
free software, including KDE/QT, Mozilla and Perl.

-- 
David