Re: updating templates

[Alexander Kirillov <kirillov math sunysb edu>]

On Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 01:54:09PM +0330, Patrick Costello sun com wrote:
> >
> >1. I would like the legal stuff to be approved by someone other than
> >   just us - e.g. by GNOME foundation. Not that I see any problem with
> >   this, of course,  if both RMS and SUN legal dept agree :). But
> >   still, formally neither SUN nor RMS are authorized to make
> >   decisions for GNOME, and I want to be real careful here. Dan: you
> >   are the board member - can you bring it up?
> >>>
>
> You are absolutely right about the above point, and the intention of
> the Sun documentation and legal team is to proceed the topic as far
> along as we could and then get board and community approval. We are
> almost at that stage now. There are some small wording changes to
> the existing GFDL to allow for accompanying Liability and Warranty
> clauses, so the wording changes as well as the clauses need to be
> approved. Also, the Sun legal team want to finalize the Liability
> and Warranty clauses to dovetail with the wording changes of the
> GFDL, so there is still a little bit of work to do before we can ask
> for board and community approval. We are nearly there, though, so if
> everyone is in agreement I'll keep on badgering this issue for a
> little while longer before asking for the broader approval.
>

OK, so let us just wait a little bit longer until these things get sorted
out   and approved by GNOME Foundation Board. (I am happy to let
someone else to take care of this nonsense :) BTW, a minor point: when
reading the liability clause, I see there 

 UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES .... SHALL YOU, THE INITIAL WRITER...

Is this "YOU" intentional? Looks kind of strange, if this text is to
be read by a user. 

> >>>
> >2. I do not see any mention of the license for the app itself
> >   (i.e. GPL) on the title page. Is it intentional? 
> >>>
>
> Good point. In our original proposal we did have a section called
> Product Licensing. I took this section out only last week, reasoning
> that the title page was all about the manual, and that statements
> about the GPL would reside with the source code for the applet or
> application. Notwithstanding that, if there is a general desire to
> have a mention of the GPL in the title page, then I don't think that
> there would be any objections from within Sun. If someone wants to
> give me the sort of text that would be suitable, then I'll include a
> GPL section.

IMHO, it would do no harm to add just one line: 
-----
This program is distributed under the terms of GNU General Public
License. A copy of this license can be found at <ulink type="ghelp"
url="ghelp:gpl">this link</ulink> or in the file LICENSE included with
the source code of this program. 
------
I do not think we need to add the "no warranty" blurb because it is
included in the GPL. 

> >
> >3. The only contact addresses given are those of the authors. I would
> >   very much like to give reference to bugzilla, or better yet, to the
> >   doc on submitting feedback (such a doc has been written). Most
> >   app authors do not want to have  bug reports sent to their email
> >   address. 
> >>>
>
> This is also a good point. I do believe it is worthwhile including
>the author contact information, as it is useful to discuss technical
>points for understanding with earlier authors. 

Agreed

>However, you are right
>in saying that authors do not want to be the gatekeepers for
>feedback. So, yes, let's include this section. Again, could someone
>give me the information that would be suitable, preferably with the
>link to the existing feedback document.  

Here it is:

---------------
To report a bug or a make a suggestion regarding this application or
documentation, please follow directions in <ulink type="ghelp"
url="ghelp:gnome-feedback">this document</ulink>
----------------

gnome-feedback is a small doc included in gnome-core package; if you
have gnome 1.4 or later, it is already there.  BTW, having this doc
makes it easy for vendors/packagers to put their own info there should
they want to do it. 
 


Sasha