On Sat, Nov 18, 2006 at 01:54:42PM +1030, Ron wrote:
> I don't profess to be an authority on the details of this, which is why
> I'm seeking clarification -- but it does seem fairly obvious to me that
> any invariant section which inhibits our freedom to modify the source is
> clearly not DFSG free...
>
> What is not obvious to me, is that the "invariant section" here (in at
> least the case I quoted) does anything of that sort at all. In this
> case it just seems to make explicit something which has always been
> the case, and which wouldn't change without that invariant section:
> namely that you can't modify the GPL text included with, and referred
> to by, that source.
After actually grep-ing through the source, I begin to see what you mean, I
think. I can only actually find a single GFDL source in the MinGW
documentation (perhaps the docs are in some other tarball?), namely
gcc-3.4.5-20060117-1/libstdc++-v3/docs/html/17_intro/porting.texi . It states
Copyright @copyright{} 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
Invariant Sections being ``GNU General Public License'', the Front-Cover
texts being (a) (see below), and with the Back-Cover Texts being (b)
(see below). A copy of the license is included in the section entitled
``GNU Free Documentation License''.
(a) The FSF's Front-Cover Text is:
A GNU Manual
(b) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is:
You have freedom to copy and modify this GNU Manual, like GNU
software. Copies published by the Free Software Foundation raise
funds for GNU development.
So, we have one invariant section (the GNU GPL), and front- and back-cover
texts. The invariant section, even here, is not actually a no-op; you cannot,
for instance, copy anything from porting.texi without including the invariant
section (save fair use). (I believe that if the GFDL permitted removal of
invariant sections, we wouldn't really have cared about them, but that's a
different story.) In addition, you have the front- and back-cover texts,
which are mini-invariant sections in their own rights; I believe they were
also covered by the GR.
/* Steinar */
--
Homepage: http://www.sesse.net/
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
