Re: [ode] [rms@gnu.org: Re: Updating the OpenContent license]


Aaron Turner (aturner@linuxkb.org)
Fri, 21 Jan 2000 11:19:09 -0800 (PST)


On Thu, 20 Jan 2000, Richard Stallman wrote:

> One concern as I read the license is that it requires the
> document to include the full license in its text, not provide
> just the reference paragraph and a pointer to the license.
>
> It is unreliable not to include the license in the work that it
> covers. Over the years, they could get separated; then the user would
> have no clear statement of his or her rights. Things are changing so
> fast that it is impossible to be confident that any particular URL
> will still work five years from now. It is hard to be confident that
> URLs will make any sense twenty years from now.

Often I see cases for the GPL where the author of the program includes a
comment that if his program didn't come with a copy of the GPL license,
the end users can get a copy of the GPL by contacting the FSF by mail. If
that's good enough for the GPL, what about this case?
 
> Perhaps someday, if free software becomes greatly accepted,
> these licenses will be available from official sources, and
> we could refer to it just as we refer to the US Constitution
>
> How does one use such a license for a 1 page short
> document (or even a man page)?
>
> For a one-page short document, I would suggest using a very simple
> license like the X11 license. For a very small document, the
> benefit of copyleft is small too.

I think the problem is where do you draw the line. 1 page? 5? 10? Also,
while the benifit of copyleft maybe small for these smaller documents,
there will be a great many people who will want to choose a copyleft
license for personal even moral reasons. To require them to do this for a
man page or short FAQ will make it difficult do what they want which is
reasonable. Also a lot of people by nature will want to use the same lic
for all their documents, regardless of size for simplicity's sake. Making
it difficult for the small docs, will likely cause them to pick a
different lic for the larger ones too.

--
Aaron Turner, Core Developer       http://vodka.linuxkb.org/~aturner/
Linux Knowledge Base Organization  http://www.linuxkb.org/
Because world domination requires quality open documentation.
aka: aturner@vicinity.com, aturner@pobox.com, ion_beam_head@ashtech.net
The difference between `Unstable' and `Usable' is only two characters: NT



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