Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-05-01 Thread Ken Arromdee
On Tue, 1 May 2007, Fabian Fagerholm wrote: > > First of all, the interpretation we wish to claim consistency under is "all > > bits that are distributed by Debian must follow the DFSG". Copyright law is > > not distributed by Debian, and needs no exception. > Neither do licenses, which are distri

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-05-01 Thread Fabian Fagerholm
On Sun, 2007-04-29 at 09:25 -0700, Ken Arromdee wrote: > I still don't see the problem. > > First of all, the interpretation we wish to claim consistency under is "all > bits that are distributed by Debian must follow the DFSG". Copyright law is > not distributed by Debian, and needs no exception

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-29 Thread Ken Arromdee
On Fri, 27 Apr 2007, Fabian Fagerholm wrote: > What I'm saying is that the DFSG can only be applied to a certain point. > We can require that license terms applied to works are DFSG-free. We can > require that license terms applied to those licenses-as-works are > DFSG-free. We can require that the

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-29 Thread Wouter Verhelst
On Tue, Apr 24, 2007 at 08:44:30AM +1000, Ben Finney wrote: > Wouter Verhelst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > Personally, I don't see "distributing non-modifiable license texts" > > to be "violating the social contract". > > I'm curious to know how you reconcile Social Contract §1 and DFSG §3,

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-28 Thread Stephen Gran
This one time, at band camp, Sven Luther said: > On Sat, Apr 28, 2007 at 12:42:41AM +0100, Stephen Gran wrote: > > This one time, at band camp, Michelle Konzack said: > > > Am 2007-04-23 19:42:02, schrieb Charles Plessy: > > > > Le Mon, Apr 23, 2007 at 12:25:31PM +0200, Josip Rodin a écrit : > > >

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-27 Thread Sven Luther
On Sat, Apr 28, 2007 at 12:42:41AM +0100, Stephen Gran wrote: > This one time, at band camp, Michelle Konzack said: > > Am 2007-04-23 19:42:02, schrieb Charles Plessy: > > > Le Mon, Apr 23, 2007 at 12:25:31PM +0200, Josip Rodin a écrit : > > > > 'We promise that the Debian system and all its compon

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-27 Thread Stephen Gran
This one time, at band camp, Michelle Konzack said: > Am 2007-04-23 19:42:02, schrieb Charles Plessy: > > Le Mon, Apr 23, 2007 at 12:25:31PM +0200, Josip Rodin a écrit : > > > 'We promise that the Debian system and all its components will be free > > > according to these guidelines.'. > > > > Dear

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-27 Thread Fabian Fagerholm
On Thu, 2007-04-26 at 16:32 -0700, Ken Arromdee wrote: > What are you talking about? Unless I'm mistaken, the topic is to consider a request for a GR that would add language to the DFSG saying that licenses need not be modifiable. :) > If by "legal composition of copyright" you mean "license text

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-27 Thread Michelle Konzack
Am 2007-04-23 19:42:02, schrieb Charles Plessy: > Le Mon, Apr 23, 2007 at 12:25:31PM +0200, Josip Rodin a écrit : > > 'We promise that the Debian system and all its components will be free > > according to these guidelines.'. > > Dear Josip, > > are you really sure that the licences are "componen

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-26 Thread Ken Arromdee
On Tue, 24 Apr 2007, Fabian Fagerholm wrote: > > The GPL as a work, however, is *not* free, since the license on that > > work does not grant the requisite freedoms. Surely there's no > > disagreement on this? > It is irrelevant, because of several reasons that have already been > pointed out in th

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-25 Thread Jordi Gutierrez Hermoso
On 23/04/07, Wouter Verhelst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Personally, I don't see "distributing non-modifiable license texts" to be "violating the social contract". I don't think anyone ever will consider that to be the case, either. That's how I felt too about non-modifiable personal opinions, b

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-24 Thread Russ Allbery
MJ Ray <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > I remain of the opinion that this GR would be pointless because even if > we were permitted by licences to modify the licences, we are prevented > by copyright law and our promises from modifying any relevant licences. > We would still be open to accusations of

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-24 Thread Fabian Fagerholm
On Tue, 2007-04-24 at 18:13 +1000, Ben Finney wrote: > The context of that statement is the GPL as a license, not as a > work. The license, applied to another work, is free. > > The GPL as a work, however, is *not* free, since the license on that > work does not grant the requisite freedoms. Surel

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-24 Thread MJ Ray
Lasse Reichstein Nielsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Easy. DFSG ?3 talks about the software, and a license is not software - > neither source not binary. [...] If it wasn't software, it couldn't be in the distribution - we have no way to distribute non-software. Why the blazes merge two unrela

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-24 Thread Lasse Reichstein Nielsen
On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 00:44:30 +0200, Ben Finney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I'm curious to know how you reconcile Social Contract §1 and DFSG §3, and the fact that we distribute non-modifiable texts in Debian. Easy. DFSG §3 talks about the software, and a license is not software - neither so

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-24 Thread Ben Finney
Fabian Fagerholm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > The meta-license of the GPL is part of the text of the GPL. The DFSG > doesn't say: only part of the GPL is considered "free". It says that > the GPL, as a whole, including the meta-license, is considered > "free". The context of that statement is th

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-24 Thread Fabian Fagerholm
On Tue, 2007-04-24 at 08:28 +1000, Ben Finney wrote: > Because the meta-license of the GPL is *not* free, as you pointed > out. The licenses are free, because they grant the right freedoms for > a work when applied to that work. The license texts are not free, > because they do not have those same

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-23 Thread Josip Rodin
On Tue, Apr 24, 2007 at 08:07:03AM +1000, Ben Finney wrote: > The Social Contract makes a promise we are not keeping. You say it's > "not ... something the social contract cares about". That's not at all > clear from reading it -- the social contract makes a straightforward > promise, which has no

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-23 Thread Josip Rodin
On Tue, Apr 24, 2007 at 08:24:39AM +1000, Ben Finney wrote: > > > There's a difference between idealism and lying about adhering to > > > one's ideals. > > > > Yeah, and we're not lying about adhering to our ideals simply by > > distributing the obligatory license data. If we weren't doing that, >

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-23 Thread Ben Finney
Wouter Verhelst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Personally, I don't see "distributing non-modifiable license texts" > to be "violating the social contract". I'm curious to know how you reconcile Social Contract §1 and DFSG §3, and the fact that we distribute non-modifiable texts in Debian. -- \

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-23 Thread Ben Finney
Fabian Fagerholm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Also, consider DFSG §10: > The "GPL", "BSD", and "Artistic" licenses are examples of > licenses that we consider "free". > > Then recall that the meta-license of the GPL permits no modification > (relaxed by FSF policy to be permitted

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-23 Thread Ben Finney
Josip Rodin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > On Mon, Apr 23, 2007 at 09:48:51AM -0400, Clint Adams wrote: > > There's a difference between idealism and lying about adhering to > > one's ideals. > > Yeah, and we're not lying about adhering to our ideals simply by > distributing the obligatory license

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-23 Thread Ben Finney
Josip Rodin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > On Mon, Apr 23, 2007 at 12:37:16PM +1000, Ben Finney wrote: > > License texts *are* distributed by Debian, now, under terms that > > are non-free. This behaviour doesn't match the Social Contract. > > Sure, they are technically being distributed, but not a

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-23 Thread Josip Rodin
On Mon, Apr 23, 2007 at 09:48:51AM -0400, Clint Adams wrote: > > Egad, it sounds like you actually live in an evil parallel universe where > > idealism is inherently dishonest and false. That universe must really suck. > > :) > > There's a difference between idealism and lying about adhering to o

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-23 Thread Clint Adams
> Egad, it sounds like you actually live in an evil parallel universe where > idealism is inherently dishonest and false. That universe must really suck. :) There's a difference between idealism and lying about adhering to one's ideals. > Please, try to remember the spirit of those promises, rath

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-23 Thread Josip Rodin
On Mon, Apr 23, 2007 at 07:42:02PM +0900, Charles Plessy wrote: > > 'We promise that the Debian system and all its components will be free > > according to these guidelines.'. > > Dear Josip, > > are you really sure that the licences are "components of the Debian > system"? If one removes them, t

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-23 Thread Fabian Fagerholm
On Mon, 2007-04-23 at 12:37 +1000, Ben Finney wrote: > License texts *are* distributed by Debian, now, under terms that are > non-free. This behaviour doesn't match the Social Contract. Is there any package in Debian which includes a license that is not being distributed as the terms of use and di

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-23 Thread Charles Plessy
Le Mon, Apr 23, 2007 at 12:25:31PM +0200, Josip Rodin a écrit : > 'We promise that the Debian system and all its components will be free > according to these guidelines.'. Dear Josip, are you really sure that the licences are "components of the Debian system"? If one removes them, the system, on

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-23 Thread Josip Rodin
On Mon, Apr 23, 2007 at 12:37:16PM +1000, Ben Finney wrote: > > Yes, the social contract says that the Debian system and all of its > > components will be fully free; but for all practical intents and > > purposes (heh), the accompanying license texts are as much a > > "component" of the "system" a

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-23 Thread Wouter Verhelst
On Mon, Apr 23, 2007 at 12:37:16PM +1000, Ben Finney wrote: > Josip Rodin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > Also, nobody cares for statements that can be normalized to 'you can > > do all this, except that, that, that, and that', and those should > > also be avoided if we want readers to take the spi

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-22 Thread Ben Finney
Josip Rodin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Yes, the social contract says that the Debian system and all of its > components will be fully free; but for all practical intents and > purposes (heh), the accompanying license texts are as much a > "component" of the "system" as is the media the system i

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-22 Thread Josip Rodin
On Tue, Apr 17, 2007 at 03:59:08PM -0400, Nathanael Nerode wrote: Frankly > I'd be happy with any honest solution. Currently the promise made in the > Social Contract is very stark, very bold, and also untrue. The DFSG are > very stark and bold about this as well. Lots of "must", "never" and > "

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-22 Thread Josip Rodin
On Sun, Apr 22, 2007 at 09:30:51AM +1000, Ben Finney wrote: > > > [The status quo] doesn't address the concern that motivated this > > > discussion: that the license texts which have restrictions on > > > modification are non-free works by the DFSG, yet are being > > > distributed in Debian against

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-21 Thread Ben Finney
Ian Jackson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Ben Finney writes ("Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing > / freeness issue"): > > [The status quo] doesn't address the concern that motivated this > > discussion: that the license texts whic

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-20 Thread Don Armstrong
On Fri, 20 Apr 2007, Ben Finney wrote: > Don Armstrong <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > On Thu, 19 Apr 2007, Nathanael Nerode wrote: > > > How about: "There is a special exception for the texts of the > > > licenses under which works in Debian are distributed;" > > > > It's not just enough for that;

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-20 Thread Ian Jackson
Ben Finney writes ("Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue"): > Ian Jackson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > The status quo is quite fine and should be left as it is. > > This doesn't address the concern that motivated this

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-20 Thread Florian Weimer
* Ian Jackson: > I disagree with this position. See Fabian Fagerholm's explanation. > For a strong copyleft licence like the GPL it's particularly > troublesome if people go around making minor edits: all of that code > is licence-incompatible with all unedited-GPL code. So the FSF have > worked

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-20 Thread Ben Finney
Don Armstrong <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > On Thu, 19 Apr 2007, Nathanael Nerode wrote: > > How about: "There is a special exception for the texts of the > > licenses under which works in Debian are distributed;" > > It's not just enough for that; it has to be a license specifically > being used

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-19 Thread Don Armstrong
On Thu, 19 Apr 2007, Nathanael Nerode wrote: > How about: "There is a special exception for the texts of the > licenses under which works in Debian are distributed;" It's not just enough for that; it has to be a license specifically being used as a license under which a work in Debian is being dis

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-19 Thread Nathanael Nerode
Don Armstrong wrote: >I don't believe we need an amendment to the Social Contract to >specifically state this as the case, but a correctly worded one which >specifically amended the social contract and/or the DFSG appropriately >may be worth some thought. > >Unfortunatly, the currently proposed ame

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-19 Thread Nathanael Nerode
Ian Jackson wrote: >If this is forced to a GR we should have an option along these >lines: > > We note that many license texts are copyrighted works, licensed only > under meta-licenses which prohibit the creation of derivative > license texts. > > We do not consider this a problem. Although

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-18 Thread Don Armstrong
On Thu, 19 Apr 2007, Ben Finney wrote: > This doesn't address the concern that motivated this discussion: > that the license texts which have restrictions on modification are > non-free works by the DFSG, yet are being distributed in Debian > against the Social Contract. License texts which are be

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-18 Thread Ben Finney
Ian Jackson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > I disagree with this position. See Fabian Fagerholm's explanation. > For a strong copyleft licence like the GPL it's particularly > troublesome if people go around making minor edits: all of that code > is licence-incompatible with all unedited-GPL code.

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-18 Thread Simon Richter
Hello, Nathanael Nerode wrote: > (There is a special exception for the license texts and similar legal > documents associated with works in Debian; modifications and derived > works of these legal texts do not need to be allowed. This is a > compromise: the Debian group encourages authors of

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-18 Thread Francesco Poli
On Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:06:22 +0100 (BST) MJ Ray wrote: > Francesco Poli <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> asked: > > Are there many other greynesses in how the SC and the DFSG are > > interpreted? > > Amazingly few, but yes, [...] > Licences are another type of greyness: unlike Mozilla's software, it's > very

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-18 Thread Wouter Verhelst
On Wed, Apr 18, 2007 at 11:59:21AM +0100, Ian Jackson wrote: > I disagree with this position. See Fabian Fagerholm's explanation. > For a strong copyleft licence like the GPL it's particularly > troublesome if people go around making minor edits: all of that code > is licence-incompatible with all

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-18 Thread Ian Jackson
Nathanael Nerode writes ("Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue"): > Alternate suggested GR text: > --- > The Debian Project notes that many license texts are copyrighted > works, licensed only under meta-licen

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-18 Thread Fabian Fagerholm
On Tue, 2007-04-17 at 15:59 -0400, Nathanael Nerode wrote: > Alternate suggested GR text: > --- > The Debian Project notes that many license texts are copyrighted works, > licensed > only under meta-licenses which prohibit the creation of derivative license > texts. > >

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-18 Thread MJ Ray
Francesco Poli <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> asked: > Are there many other greynesses in how the SC and the DFSG are > interpreted? Amazingly few, but yes, as some of it is based on guessing how still-changing legal systems are developing, or how particular licensors will react to our actions. At least twi

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-17 Thread Charles Plessy
Le Tue, Apr 17, 2007 at 03:59:08PM -0400, Nathanael Nerode a écrit : > > Alternate suggested GR text: > --- > The Debian Project notes that many license texts are copyrighted works, > licensed > only under meta-licenses which prohibit the creation of derivative license >

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-17 Thread Nathanael Nerode
MJ Ray wrote: >There may be a few licences that are buggy about this and to which we >want to grant a limited-time exception, but that is not unusual. Use >a GR for only that, not a permanent foundation document edit. >> Care to craft another solution? [...] >No, I've no interest You just did cr

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-17 Thread Francesco Poli
On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 09:51:15 +0100 (BST) MJ Ray wrote: > Francesco Poli <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 09:11:52 +0100 (BST) MJ Ray wrote: [...] > > > Has it? I've seen a few people write down this assumption, but > > > I've usually disagreed with them. > > > > I'm afraid you then th

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-17 Thread MJ Ray
Nathanael Nerode <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > [GPL/LGPL addressed in an earlier thread.] > The Academic Free License does not have > permission to modify. The LaTeX Project Public License does not have > permission to modify. I think AFL is not a DFSG-free licence because of its excessive Mutua

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-17 Thread MJ Ray
Francesco Poli <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 09:11:52 +0100 (BST) MJ Ray wrote: [...] > > Has it? I've seen a few people write down this assumption, but I've > > usually disagreed with them. > > I'm afraid you then think that you have to purge every GPLv2 preamble > from Debian main.

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-16 Thread Nathanael Nerode
>Nathanael Nerode <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [...] >> Without this exception, if the DFSG were followed literally, most >> license texts could not be shipped in Debian and would have to be >> shipped alongside Debian instead, which would be very annoying. > MJ Ray wrote: >Most? I thought most l

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-16 Thread Francesco Poli
On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 09:11:52 +0100 (BST) MJ Ray wrote: > Nathanael Nerode <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [...] > > Without this exception, if the DFSG were followed literally, most > > license texts could not be shipped in Debian and would have to be > > shipped alongside Debian instead, which would

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-16 Thread MJ Ray
Nathanael Nerode <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [...] > Without this exception, if the DFSG were followed literally, most > license texts could not be shipped in Debian and would have to be > shipped alongside Debian instead, which would be very annoying. Most? I thought most licence texts were cov

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing/freeness issue

2007-04-15 Thread Nathanael Nerode
I wrote: >> Historically, this exception has been an unwritten assumption; in most >> discussions, this exception has been agreed on by everyone involved. Wouter Verhelst wrote: >If that is the case, then why would it be necessary to write this down >in the DFSG? Personally, I don't think we ne

Re: Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-15 Thread Wouter Verhelst
On Sun, Apr 15, 2007 at 05:50:36PM -0400, Nathanael Nerode wrote: > This is a proposed text for a GR. I can't actually propose a GR (not a > DD), so I request that someone else who cares propose it or a similar > proposal. > > ---begin proposed GR--- > Resolved: > That the DFSG shall be amended

Request for GR: clarifying the license text licensing / freeness issue

2007-04-15 Thread Nathanael Nerode
This is a proposed text for a GR. I can't actually propose a GR (not a DD), so I request that someone else who cares propose it or a similar proposal. ---begin proposed GR--- Resolved: That the DFSG shall be amended, by inserting at the end of clause 3, in italics: (There is a special exceptio