Re: Documenting Gnome apps with the GPL

[Richard Stallman <rms gnu org>]

Using one copy of the GNU FDL in gnome-core, and making individual
manuals link to it, is ok for manuals that are always distributed with
gnome-core.  You need to set them up as a collection of manuals
sharing one copy of the GNU FDL (see section 6).  This should not be
hard.

However, manuals that are distributed separately (not with gnome-core)
have to have their own copies of the FDL.  When manuals are printed,
the printed versions should include a copy of the GNU FDL.  This is
because one requirement of the FDL is that every copy of the manual
must come with a copy of the FDL.

The reason our licenses have this requrement is because every program
and every manual should come with a copy of its license.  Otherwise
there is a risk that they will get disconnected, and users will not be
able to see what their rights are.


By contrast, it is not essential for a manual to include a copy of the
license of the *program*.  In general, we include this information in
a GNU manual when the manual is large or when the program seems
important; otherwise, we usually leave it out.  But there is no need
to make that a rigid rule, since both alternatives are always ok.

When the program's license information is included in the manual, it
should not be on the title page or the copyright page of the manual.
Space there is limited, and it's better to save it for what really
belongs there.  Also, it might cause some confusion if it is located
there--people might think this license applies to the manual rather
than to the program.  So it is best to put this information in a
separate section, which should be an invariant section.


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