Re: [Savannah-hackers] submission of texi2latex -- convert Texinfo to LaTeX - savannah.nongnu.org

[Sylvain Beucler]

Hi,

I'm evaluating the project you submitted for approval in Savannah:

> Torsten Bronger <address@hidden> described the package as
> follows:
> License: gpl
> Other License: 
> Package: texi2latex -- convert Texinfo to LaTeX
> System name: texi2latex
> Type: non-GNU
> 
> Description:
> A program that transforms Texinfo documentation to the LaTeX format.  For
> this, the native XML output of makeinfo is taken and transformed to LaTeX
> using XSLT.  There are three possible ways: 1. direct transformation, 2.
> transformation to tbook (http://tbookdtd.sf.net) which can be transformed
> to good LaTeX, and 3. not using XSLT at all but C, C++, or Flex.  I want
> to implement the direct approach first, and the others only if the direct
> approach is unsuitable for certain situations.    Some things, eg a
> program that converts Unicodes to LaTeX commands, would be taken from the
> tbook project.  It may be necessary to add further small programs in
> compilable languages, e.g. for parsing the Texinfo formula syntax to LaTeX
> or MathML (not necessary for the direct approach).  All will be kept
> together by main program written in a compilable or scripting language for
> doing the complete conversion, including bitmap format transformation.

Do you already have some source code?

We wish to review your source code, even if it is not functional, to
catch potential legal issues early.

For example, to release your program properly under the GPL you must
include a copyright notice and permission-to-copy statements at
the beginning of every file of source code.  This is explained in
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-howto.html.  Our review would help catch
potential omissions such as these.

You can give me a URL or send it to me by mail.


> Other Software Required:
> An XSLT implementation.  I use Saxon for my own purposes, but I will write
> XSLT code that is independent from a certain XSLT processor.

It would be good to know what XSLT processor you plan to use. For
example, Saxon has problems: it is released under a GNU
GPL-incompatible license, and it is written in Java, which means you
have to make sure it works under a free Java suite if you plan to use
it as a dependency.


> ImageMagick.
> 
> 
> Other Comments:
> As said, I will use code and tools from the tbook XML system.  I am the
> copyright holder of tbook, so I can double-licence it if necessary. 
> (However, tbook itself is open source software too, under the terms of the
> Artistic Licence 2.0.)

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html states that the Artistic
License v2 is compatible with the GNU GPL, so no need to use
dual-licensing :)

Incidentally, note that Savannah supports projects of the Free
Software movement, not projects of the Open Source movement.

We are careful about ethical issues and insist on producing software
that is not dependent on proprietary software.

While Open Source as defined by its founders means something pretty
close to Free Software, it's frequently misunderstood.  For more
information, please see
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html.

-- 
Sylvain