On Sun, 22 Apr 2007 09:35:50 +0100 Anthony W. Youngman wrote: [...] > The *perceived* problem with the GPL is that the FSF has forbidden > modified versions to mention the name GPL, the FSF, or carry Richard's > pre-ramble (sic :-).
The grant of permissions is awkwardly given in the GPL FAQ: http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl-faq.html#ModifyGPL There's a name-change requirement, which is acceptable from a DFSG point of view. There are some consistency requirements for the instructions-for-use: I didn't think hard to check whether they meet the DFSG. There's a requirement to *not* mention GNU in those instructions, which does *not* look DFSG-free: I cannot mention GNU, not even in a descriptive way and/or clarifying that I claim no endorsement by or affiliation with the GNU Project! Moreover, you _must_ purge the preamble: there's no permission to modify it, in any way; there's not even the permission to keep it bundled with your license derived from the GPL! This means that the GPL preamble does *not* comply with the DFSG. > As far as the names go, that's trademark not > copyright, The requirement to change the name of the derived license is fine, as I stated. On the other hand, the requirement to not mention GNU is not a default trademark restriction! And I don't think it's DFSG-free. > and as far as RMS's ramble, to include that would be to > mis-represent Richard. Not necessarily: I could create a modified version of the GPL preamble that is not misrepresented as the opinion of RMS, but is clearly presented as *my* own opinion. Nothing wrong would be going on, in that case: my preamble would be derived from the GPL preamble (as far as copyright is concerned), but would be clearly marked as *my* personal modified version of the GPL preamble and should be therefore regarded as *my* opinion, not (necessarily) RMS' one. But the FSF does not permit this scenario. They use copyright law to forbid it. It's a non-free restriction. > If that's not against the Social Contract, it > should be. I disagree. -- http://frx.netsons.org/doc/nanodocs/etch_workstation_install.html Need to read a Debian etch installation walk-through? ..................................................... Francesco Poli . GnuPG key fpr == C979 F34B 27CE 5CD8 DC12 31B5 78F4 279B DD6D FCF4
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