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Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again
From: |
Andrew Suffield |
Subject: |
Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again |
Date: |
Fri, 26 Mar 2004 00:05:26 +0000 |
User-agent: |
Mutt/1.5.5.1+cvs20040105i |
On Wed, Mar 24, 2004 at 06:21:34PM -0800, Tom Lord wrote:
>
> > From: Andrew Suffield <address@hidden>
>
> > > Well, what is _your_ definition of "free", since you think it is
> > > applicable as a touchstone which must be used to test any FSF
> > > licensee?
>
> > Here it is:
> >
> > http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
>
> > Clear, precise, and decidedly acceptable. Minus the hippie stuff, it's
> > the first test usually applied to any license under review to test
> > whether it is free enough for Debian (the DFSG is essentially this
> > written more explicitly, plus some pragmatic restrictions).
>
> > RMS has acknowledged that the GFDL is not free under this definition.
>
> But that definition applies to _software_. The freedoms enumerated
> directly pertain to software (for example, you can not "run"
> documentation).
Every time somebody tries to make that claim, somebody else produces
some documentation you can run. TeX is a veritable library of such
things. Then you have things like the output of tla --help -
documentation or software? What about help2man?
If you want to try and claim that documentation is not software then
you must provide a relevant[0] way for distinguishing between
documentation and software. Merely picking cases from either end of
the spectrum is not adequete. After watching many people try, fail,
and give up, I do not believe there is a meaningful distinction here.
You can trivially transform the essay such that it refers to
"documentation" instead of "software", and it still forms a strong
argument (change "run" to "use", etc).
Really, heard it all before, and seen the position abandoned by its
most adament proponents.
> Would you apply the definition in that essay to a political essay? or
> to a musical recording?
Not sure, don't care. I would apply it to everything that goes into Debian.
> If so, can you elaborate on the analogy you
> have in mind and why it is a good idea?
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/shouldbefree.html
[0] You could claim that paper manuals are clearly not software
(although people have even found cases where that isn't clear),
but this isn't relevant; paper manuals can't go into Debian.
--
.''`. ** Debian GNU/Linux ** | Andrew Suffield
: :' : http://www.debian.org/ |
`. `' |
`- -><- |
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- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again, (continued)
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again, Tom Lord, 2004/03/24
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again, Andrew Suffield, 2004/03/24
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again, Tom Lord, 2004/03/24
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again, Aaron Bentley, 2004/03/24
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again, Stephen J. Turnbull, 2004/03/26
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again, Aaron Bentley, 2004/03/26
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again,
Andrew Suffield <=
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again, James Blackwell, 2004/03/24
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again, Tom Lord, 2004/03/22
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again, Aaron Bentley, 2004/03/22
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again, Tom Lord, 2004/03/22
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again, Robert Collins, 2004/03/22
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again, Mikhael Goikhman, 2004/03/22
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again, Aaron Bentley, 2004/03/22
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again, Mikhael Goikhman, 2004/03/22
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again, James Blackwell, 2004/03/22
- Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Front page to wiki now modifiable again, Tom Lord, 2004/03/22