On Fri, Dec 14, 2001 at 09:31:58PM -0800, Thomas Bushnell, BSG wrote: > I prefer a proportional limit for two reasons. First, a fixed limit > invites the abuse of splitting a big invariant thing into a bunch of > packages. Second, a proportional limit guarantees that we get some > real fully-free documentation along with the invariant text.
I think it's time for some solid definitions here. The term "invariant", as used in the GFDL, refers to material that is nonmodifiable and nonremovable. You would not be able to get around a fixed limit by splitting up a package, because each partial package would have to contain all of the invariant text. I myself have a far bigger objection (in terms of Freedom) to nonremovable text than to nonmodifiable. I don't mind that the GNU Manifesto is nonmodifiable, and I think it's appropriate for the Debian Project to publish that document. But I do not think that a manual with any invariant text is "real fully-free documentation". It is documentation that _would have been free_ except for the invariant text attached to it. I don't think we should accept any manual with invariant sections as free; but as a compromise, I would support a policy that identifies a specific set of texts as acceptable. I'm opposed to any generic limit based on size. Software projects do merge and share code, and at some point they may have to share parts of their manuals. This means that invariant sections will gradually multiply and spread to the manuals of related programs. We should keep a tight rein on their numbers, and we should judge based on content as well as (fixed) size. I refer to fixed size, not proportional, because even a relatively small invariant section will weigh down even small extracts from the manual it is bound to, and it might migrate to smaller manuals. I don't think the size of the manual it originally accompanies is all that relevant. [I've cut down the crossposts to "just" debian-legal and debian-policy.] -- Richard Braakman Will write free software for money. See http://www.xs4all.nl/~dark/resume.html
