Angus Leeming <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> schrieb am 02.03.05 16:41:25: > > Chris Karakas wrote: > > > Am I allowed to do it? > > Yes, so long as your licence is compatible with the GPL.
Thanks for answering! GPL you say? Now if only someone could assure me that the statement "GPL is compatible with GFDL" holds true...sigh. I am afraid, if you take it up to the letter, they are NOT. For a piece of code (say, a .lyx file containing the documentation) to be under the GPL licence, it *must*: - Contain a Copyright Notice - Contain a Disclaimer - Come with source code etc... Now the LyX User's Guide does NOT contain the Disclaimer # # This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the # GNU General Public License for more details. # # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License # along with this program; see the file COPYING. If not, write to # the Free Software Foundation, 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. # so the LyX User Guide is NOT under the GPL! You think I'm kidding? I am not - I've seen cases where the FSF said "this software is NOT under the GPL, because it does not contain the Disclaimer". See http://phpnuke.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=6966 PHP-Nuke was seen as non-GPL-compliant by FSF, because it did not comply with section 2(c) of the GPL (like the LyX User's Guide, it did not contain the Disclaimer). The author had to explicitly include the Disclaimer in the footer of each page generated by his script. Furthermore, the GFDL has the notion of the "invariant chapters", which cannot be altered, while with the GPL you can change almost everything. So here we are, with a piece of documentation that is not GPLed, but was intented to be, and someone who wants to copy it under the GFDL, which is compatible with the GPL in the sense of free software, but not compatible with it in the legal sense... What do we do now? Suggestions? Chris -- Regards Chris Karakas http://www.karakas-online.de
