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>>>>> On Wed, 4 Sep 2002 09:36:31 +0100, David Carlisle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>>>> said: >> And note that it begins with "I decided to put these fonts into the >> public domain; all I have asked is that ..." > As has been stated many times, the conditions on Knuth's programs and > fonts are scattered over many places, the copyright pages in books, and > comments in source code and readme files in the distributions. > The wording (especially the use of "public domain") is often confusing > and arguably contradictory. > However the _intent_ of the TeX conditions is clear (and stated in all > caps in the text I quoted); Change whatever you like, so long as you > change your name (including names of relevant files). > This is the basis of the claim we have often stated (and you've often > denied) that the design of the LPPL was primarily intended to > clarify a situation in which latex could be distributed in the same > manner as TeX, but with clearer conditions, all stated in one place. > I think the LPPL succeeded in that. It is precisely because the > conditions on latex are so much easier to find than the conditions on > TeX that we (as opposed to Knuth) get the initial comments about the > renaming clause. >> Note that if this means *anything* at all, the request is a mere >> request and not legally binding. > It is not phrased as a request it is stated that this is the intended > interpretation of the licence by the copyright holder. (Yes I know he > also mentions PD in the same statement...) The reference to enforcement by shunning and community effort seems to indicate otherwise. I've been trying to read that statement from every angle I can think of, but I just can't find a consistent meaning other than that Knuth has put this in the public domain, but makes strong requests of the community of users of the code he wrote. > "in direct violation of my stipulation on the copyright page of Computers > & Typesetting, Volume E." Sadly, I don't own a copy of Computers & Typesetting. Can you quote the full copyright page, and give a general indication of the contents of Volume E? > We do have a clear statement that Debian wouldn't try to use legal > technicalities to weasel out of honouring such a statement, don't we? Certainly. If anything is to be weaseled, I suspect it will be the DFSG: it's enough to have legal permission to distribute modified code (say, because it's public domain) that we don't think we'll likely ever exercise (out of politeness and respect). - -Brian - -- Brian Sniffen [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.evenmere.org/~bts/ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQE9dh9/03mlJHngJfERApkWAJ9adMXakOuYcnOeFE9xFDgrPlaUdACfT0X7 FZNshUGGbAsfWxsBc0PR1jc= =SWQ7 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----