Re: open/free documentation license comparison

On Wed, 2002-02-06 at 15:50, Hartmut Holzgraefe wrote: > here's an ascii version of the license section my "manual and beyond" > RFC paper i'd used as a preparation of my conference talk in frankfurt > > i tried to analyse the copyright situation and the choice of licenses > as i saw it back then (almost half a year ago) and have added a small > update: Thanks for the rundown, Hartmut. Personally, I would lean toward the GFDL or the OPL(b)--but I haven't really studied either of them. Torben > License and Copyright > > The current phpdoc repository is licensed under the GPL and > copyright holders are the members of the PHP Documentation Group as > listed on the Manual front page. As the GPL focuses on code and not > on documentation content it is not really the right choice for > protecting the manual. There has been some discussion on the phpdoc > mailing list every once in a while but no conclusion has been > reached yet. So i'll try to present some of the licenses that might > fit and their goals, pros and cons. > > > > License Goals > > Whatever the new license will be, it has to make sure that > copyright is kept intact and that nobody but the copyright holders > may change the license, neither in original nor in modified form > and that the original authors and contributers get the credits > they deserve. It has not become clear whether commercial > distribution should be possible or not. > > > > The FreeBSD Documentation License > > The FreeBSD Documentation License is very much like the modified > BSD license. It does not restrict redistribution and/or > modification at all as long as the license and copyright notice is > kept intact. > > > The Open Content License > > The Open Content License allows modifications as long as the > license and copyright are kept intact and modified versions are > clearly marked as such, but it does not permit > charging for the distribution of the content itself, you may only > charge for media and for additional services you provide related > to the content. > > > > The Open Publishing License > > The Open Publishing License (not to be confused with the Open > Content License) goes more into the details of publishing and > defines fair use of content. It does, for example, require that > the original authors have to be printed on the cover if the > content is published in book form. > The original license is rather liberal regarding modifications and > commercial publishing, but there are two license options that can > be added to deny substantial modifications or commercial > publishing without special permission. > > > > The GNU Free Documentation License > > This License goes even more into detail as it was the only one of > those presented here that was created with the help of > professional lawyers. It tries to define the details of fair use > similar to the Open Publishing License, but with a slightly > different focus. It does not prevent modifications or commercial > distribution as long as copyright and license are kept intact and > modifications are made available in source form. > > > > Conclusion (sort of) > > IMHO commercial distribution of the PHP documentation should not > be restricted as the distribution of PHP itself is not restricted > in that way, too. On the other hand the FreeBSD Documentation > License, that is very similar to the PHP License, does not really > solve the issues in which the current GPL lacks. In the spirit of > the current license the GNU Free Documentation > License should be the best choice. All contributions to the manual > have been made under the GPL, and although the copyright holders > that the copyright for these contributions has been transfered to > have the right to change the license for future versions they should > perhaps stay in the same spirit when changing the license for > practical reasons. If the final decision regarding commercial > redistribution goes against me, then the Open Publication License > including option 'B' should be the best choice for a new manual > license. > > PS: this has been written almost half a year ago now and some things > have changed since then. we have a new, BSDish Zend Engine license > and ZendAPI documentation has been bundled with the manual and > is even about to be merged with it on the source level > so today i'd rather suggest to just switch to the OPL and use > the same options as the zendAPI doc > -- Torben Wilson <torben@php.net> http://www.thebuttlesschaps.com http://www.hybrid17.com http://www.inflatableeye.com +1.604.709.0506