The Free Software Foundation has published a new revision of the GNU Free Documentation License, version 1.2.
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html In my assessment, it does not substantially address the major concerns that the Debian Project has raised. The GNU FDL, version 1.2, is not necessarily DFSG-non-free when applied to a work, but it can be employed in ways that are DFSG-non-free. As a first approximation, it appears to me that the following conditions must be met for a work licensed under the GNU FDL 1.2 to be DFSG-free: 1) There must be no Invariant Sections. 2) There must be no Cover Texts. Further analysis of the GNU FDL will likely center on section 4 ("MODIFICATIONS"), and whether and how each of the many requirements therein mesh with DFSG 3 ("Derived Works"). Specifically, 4I seems similar in spirit to a requirement under the GNU GPL, which will already accept as a DFSG-free license. I am less certain about 4K. I have made available several files to faciliatate further analysis of the changes to the GNU FDL, and the FSF's consideration of the comments its solicited from the public regarding its draft of version 1.2. 1) text of the GNU FDL, version 1.1 http://people.debian.org/~branden/fdl/fdl-1.1.txt 2) text of the GNU FDL, version 1.2 http://people.debian.org/~branden/fdl/fdl-1.2.txt 3) a unified diff between versions 1.1 and 1.2 of the GNU FDL http://people.debian.org/~branden/fdl/fdl-1.1-to-1.2.diff 4) a wdiff ("word diff") between versions 1.1 and 1.2 of the GNU FDL http://people.debian.org/~branden/fdl/fdl-1.1-to-1.2.wdiff 5) the draft of the GNU FDL, version 1.2, which the FSF published for public commentary earlier this year http://people.debian.org/~branden/fdl/fdl-1.2-draft.txt 6) a copy of the comments the FSF received to its draft version of version 1.2 of the GNU FDL, as edited by the FSF http://people.debian.org/~branden/fdl/fdl-1.2-draft-comments.txt 7) a unified diff between the GNU FDL 1.2 draft and the final version http://people.debian.org/~branden/fdl/fdl-1.2-draft-to-final.diff 8) a wdiff ("word diff") between the GNU FDL 1.2 draft and the final version http://people.debian.org/~branden/fdl/fdl-1.2-draft-to-final.wdiff The Free Software Foundation has heard us and, apparently, taken our perspective into account as much as they plan to. It is now time for us to decide if and how we will apply the DFSG to the GNU FDL in a manner consistent with our Social Contract. Our decisions on these matters will affect our ability to continue to distribute certain documents as part of the Debian system. -- G. Branden Robinson | America is at that awkward stage. Debian GNU/Linux | It's too late to work within the [EMAIL PROTECTED] | system, but too early to shoot the http://people.debian.org/~branden/ | bastards. -- Claire Wolfe
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