Re: A restrictive(?) LDP License

[Gary Lawrence Murphy <garym@canada.com>]

>>>>> "T" == Terry Dawson <terry@albert.animats.net> writes:

    T> ... In many ways I actually favour this idea (relicensing), but
    T> it will mean that some existing documents will have to be
    T> excluded because permission to relicense the documents can not
    T> be obtained.

If the contract is on the inbound traffic, this is not a problem:
Those docs in the collection prior to installing the contract-gate did
not sign any contract so they cannot be bound by it.  For outbound
docs, the "warrantee of freedoms" doc can include a "grandfathering
clause" to follow the "all docs grant permissions X, Y Z" with a (b)
clause stating that docs older than such and such a date are not
guaranteed to be compliant.

On the question of modifications, there is no conflict with the LDP if
modification is forbidden: If a doc has mod restrictions, we do not
touch it.  Simple as that.  Like any reference library, we accept it
graciously, add it to the archive, and forget about it: We can't
change it, 'nuff said.  The doc *might* die of loneliness, but because
there is no _exclusivity_ clause in our contracts with the authors, we
are always free to replace it (or compliment it) with a second,
independent doc should the need and opportunity arise.

Unless disk space is at a premium, having unrevised 'old' docs can be
an advantage: A new 'innd' doc is not likely to focus much on uucp,
but I might have an application which needs the state-of-the-art at
some past date.  The best solution would be CVS revisions (btw- when
is a doc revision tagged?) or an XML database (yeah, dream on!), but
the good old "just keep the old edition" works for public libraries
and should work for us as well.

-- 
Gary Lawrence Murphy <garym@canada.com>  TeleDynamics Communications Inc
Business Telecom Services : Internet Consulting : http://www.teledyn.com
Linux Writers Workshop Archive: http://www.egroups.com/group/linux-hack/
"You don't play what you know; you play what you hear." -- (Miles Davis)


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