On 07/29/10 08:26, Richard Kenner wrote:
But even for documentation written by hand, often I find that I'd like to
start out with some comment or example from the actual code. The GPL / GFDL
dichotomy doesn't allow me to do that, so some documentation just won't get
written.
Taking an example from actual code would be "fair use" and not a violation
of the GPL. I don't see a problem there. Taking large pieces of code
in a mechanical way is completely different from the type of manual
copying you're talking about.
Isn't one of the specific instances of this issue the desire to copy
some of the constraints information from the source, which would need to
go into the user manual rather than internals documentation?
And in some cases a function index with documentation may be precisely
what the end-user needs -- think runtime libraries.
What's concerning is how much time we've got to spend discussing this
kind of issue rather than getting real work done, all due to a license
that is insanely controversial.
Jeff
