Richard Braakman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > This problem affects the GPL itself as well, and the last time the FSF > moved it was handled via silent replacement of the license text. I even > wrote the Lintian check for that :-) But the GPL has explicit provisions > that allow such upgrading, which the Emacs manual does not have.
You're quite right I think. The problem of updating here is real, and I think the FSF is blind to it because they don't plan for their own death--inevitable though everyone's/everything's death is. Ah, appropriate that it is Advent, eh? The case of the GDB manual raises some particular nastinesses, and I think your point about the problems of updating even inoccuous things like addresses are important. Also, Anthony or Branden (I can't recall which, maybe both) have brought up the useful point about having unremovable sections that persist for way too long, even if you only want to use selected snippets of the manual. The fact that the "sample GDB session" is marked invariant is a special worry; it seems to me a violation of the GFDL in just the way that RMS said couldn't happy and Branden was so worried about a while ago. So I'm not sure what to think anymore, the latest comments have given me considerable pause.
