Debian has labelled a license with serious, onerous practical problems free. The obvious consequence is that any license with similar practical problems will also be considered free, and--going one small step further--licenses with serious problems in general will be considered free.
This GR has tainted the "DFSG-free" label, probably permanently. Striving to be DFSG-free has historically been a strong force in encouraging people to genuinely release software freely; it's been my primary motivation for participating here. From what I can see, Debian has thrown that away. On Sun, Mar 12, 2006 at 05:37:46PM -0500, Anthony DeRobertis wrote: > >This > >GR also did not say "the GFDL is free, as long as this and that > >interpretation of the license are held"; it makes no such qualification. > > The GR just says: > > At the same time, we also consider that works licensed under the GNU > Free Documentation License that include no invariant sections do > fully meet the requirements of the Debian Free Software Guidelines. > > It does not say whether the interpretation of the DFSG or the > interpretation of the license is wrong; I suggest that means we are free > to pick, on a problem-by-problem basis, which one is wrong. This is a major contrivance. The GR made no such qualification. It doesn't say "under the FSF's interpretation of the license" or "if our interpretation holds". I'm a little confused, by the way. The thread start quoted: "> Option 2 "GFDL-licensed works without unmodifiable sections are free" not "invariant sections". "Invariant sections" is a specific term in the GFDL; "unmodifiable sections" is different, and would include front- and back-cover texts as well. > >I can put a document under the GFDL, and say "the 'technical measures' > >clause is, in fact, intended to prohibit encrypting the document". > >That's not bending or twisting the license; it's merely confirming a > >straightforward interpretation. > > Sure. And we could decide that if you do that, we'll treat you just like > UW with respect to Pine. Not without another GR to override this one. The GR says the GFDL is free, and I'd be using the GFDL with a perfectly natural interpretation. UW did not use a natural reading of its license; it used a deliberately twisted one. -- Glenn Maynard -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]