Subject: Re: Please make the LDP docs free in the GNU sense
From: torsten martinsen <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 30 May 1995 09:13:00 +0200

>>>>> "Adam" == Adam J Richter <[email-masked]> writes:

Adam> 	GNU/Linux is about eliminating the need for proprietary
Adam> software to run a really good operating system, which people can hack
Adam> on, improve and redistribute at will.  I think much of our success in
Adam> comparison to mach and *bsd is due to copyleft, which allows businesses
Adam> to distribute and sometimes develop free software without fear of their
Adam> competitors "going proprietary," at least with the copylefted sections.

	[...]

Adam> 	The dirty secret of the LDP is that most of the LDP docs are not
Adam> "free" in the GNU sense.  They almost are, but they prohibit improvement.
Adam> You have to get the authors permission to distribute modified versions,
Adam> which is functionally the same as having no such permission.  

The same problem exists with the current LaTeX2e release.

Adam> 	Now, I know that control by the author is important to some
Adam> of you, but I think that the approach taken by slackware, and many other
Adam> free software projects addresses it quiet well.  Require approval
Adam> of modifications for use of the *name*, but not content.

I think this is a good solution (the same approach was adopted by Donald
Knuth for TeX).

-Torsten