On Thu, 29 Apr 2004, Hans Reiser wrote: > So hopefully, Debian can print out some nice warning that Reiser4 is > not plagiarizable, and if the user indicates that they still want to > use it anyway, they can go forward.
We have to ascertain as well that we can even legally distribute it. Assuming reiser4 is not a derivative work of any other GPLed code, there shouldn't be a problem with it in non-free, but if it is, we cannot distribute it at all, as the extra clarifications clearly are not GPL compatible. > I find Debian's aggressive behavior toward myself, and especially > Richard Stallman and his GFDL, to be inappropriate and ungrateful, Just to clarify, what you are seeing is individuals who may (or may not) be associated with the Debian project, not Debian itself. [This is no less different than conflating yourself with the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg or Richard with the FSF.] > I also understand that Debian is striving to define its morality, > and that much of the world shares its rather asian attitude towards > whether it is acceptable to not credit others for their > contributions to science. I do not. I think the western approach of > rigor in attribution has been of great value in stimulating > innovation over the centuries, and think it should be applied to > free software as much as it was to free science research. I don't think anyone involved in Debian or in the larger Debian community feels that you or Richard, or any other contributor to the Free Software movement should fail to be properly recognized for their voluminous contributions to the movement. What I, and others who also have contributed to this movement object to is the abridging of freedoms to attain the secondary goal of rigorous attribution. I know in my own scientific work I expect that people who use the ideas that come from my work to cite and refer to the work which spawned their ideas in an appropriate manner. However, I am loth to define exactly how they refer to my work, as this can be as stifling to their ability to build upon my work as me failing to publish or communicate it. Rest assured that many of us are practitioners of rigorous attribution and would not fail to attribute someone appropriately. However, we are also well aware that the nature of attribution changes from medium to medium, and that a form of attribution rigorously defined by license would necessarily interfere with the ability of the end user to modify the work in ways that are traditionally embraced by the Free Software community at large. As always, if I can assist you in finding a method to bring your wishes in harmony with the DFSG and Debian, please don't hesitate to let me know. Don Armstrong -- If you wish to strive for peace of soul, then believe; if you wish to be a devotee of truth, then inquire. -- Friedrich Nietzsche http://www.donarmstrong.com http://rzlab.ucr.edu
