[Sussex] Distros

[Steve Dobson]

On Mon, Apr 04, 2005 at 04:32:22PM +0100, Geoffrey J. Teale wrote:
> =====================================================================
> But that feature requires a safeguard to prevent it from being abused
> to endanger the free status of the manual. Person B who modifies a
> manual that was written by person A should not be able to make any of
> person A's documentation invariant, for that would deny person C the
> permission to modify it further. Likewise, if person B adds
> documentation for additional subtopics, this added documentation must
> not be invariant; the documentation itself must be modifiable by
> others. The FDL's conditions on adding invariant sections provide this
> safeguard.
> ======================================================================
> 
> Additionally you are required to state which sections are invariant up
> front.  In this manner it would be easy to filter out manuals with
> dodgy sections up front.   Adding invariant information on unrelated
> topics is disallowed,  so you can be sure that if the document didn't
> contain offensive material when it was authored then none can be added
> in a manner that they cannot be removed.

But person B could not only add good technical content to a GFDL document
but also an invariant section that is morally objectionable.  And the
GFDL does not allow you to accept the technical good without taking the
invariant bad.  This is what I object to.

If that author has added detailed documentation for a software patch that
I do want then I can't use said documentation unless I take the invariant
stuff too.  If I can't legally or morally accept the invariant section then
I can't take the documentation, and what use is the software without it?
And I can't just re-write the documentation, that would be a derived work,
and I have no license to do that.  What am I to do?

While I accept the need to make documentation licenses that work in the
real world I still do not accept that invariant sections are the way to
do this.  There must be a better way.  Geoff, your wife is a lawyer, isn't
there a better way?

Steve