[Texmacs-dev] GNU FSL and Debian FDL conflict

[David Allouche]

The Debian people are raising an issue which is IMHO important.

http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2003/debian-legal-200304/msg00246.html

It seems that documentation distributed under the GNU Free
Documentation License (GFDL) including Invariant Sections is
incompatible with the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG).

I have always been somewhat incomfortable with the idea of invariant
sections in GFDL licensed documentation, it seems that some people are
seeing a real problem there. It is debated whether it is even
reasonable to draw a distinction between code and documentation for
licensing purposes.

So, the issues are:

  Does the GFDL licensed TeXmacs documentation include any invariant
  sections?

  Should we have a policy regarding such invariant sections?

Since the TeXmacs documentation currently includes no work from me
(though that may change in the future) I have very little authority on
that issue. Yet I think this issue is important.

My two cents, of course, is that the texmacs documentation should not
include any invariant section besides what is strictly required by the
license: a copy of th FDL license itself.

-- 
                                                            -- DDAA