[Celinux-dev] Re: Policy Document (for embedded wiki)

[Tim Bird]

Matt Mackall wrote:
> I think GFDL is a bad choice of license, especially in the field of
> kernel development.
> 
> a) it's not GPL compatible (in either direction!)
> 
I don't agree, but if it's going to cause problems
with contribution, it could be an issue.

> 
> b) the GFDL's advantages for our purposes aren't obvious
> 
>   The protections it gives beyond what the GPL gives are mainly aimed
>   at printed works where authorship is a valuable asset (see invariant
>   sections), but authorship on wikis is a fairly nebulous concept.
I agree.

> 
> c) it's not even clear that it qualifies as a free license!
> 
>   This has been hotly debated in several circles, most notably Debian-legal:
> 
>   http://people.debian.org/~srivasta/Position_Statement.xhtml

The analysis in the position statement is seriously flawed.
It takes the requirements for Invariant sections and applies
them to the entire text. If you have no invariant sections,
as I expect for a wiki, then most of the objections have no
basis.

Please note that I would prefer not to rehash the entire GFDL
debate.  I disagree with the Debian-legal conclusions.

> Further, compatibility with Wikipedia is not terribly important (we
> can always link), while ability to mix with the kernel source and
> kernel documentation is fairly critical. Which means using the GPL
> (v2!).

My proposal for the license policy is:
 * text - GFDL
 * standalone code with no license mentioned - GPL2
 * standalone code with a license mentioned - must be under an OSI-approved license
 * patches - licensed same as software to which they apply

Note that the wiki is not SourceForge, so theoretically we could punt on
the code issues, and have them hosted somewhere else.  (It's not like there's
a shortage of places on the Internet to host code - the CELF wiki could be used
for otherwise homeless code and patches.)  I think it's much more likely
that text will move between the embedded linux wiki and Wikipedia than
between the embedded linux wiki and the kernel sources.

Anyone care to comment on the pros and cons of making the general
text GPL2?  The files in <linux>/Documentation are GPL2, no?
 -- Tim

=============================
Tim Bird
Architecture Group Chair, CE Linux Forum
Senior Staff Engineer, Sony Electronics
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