License change for the GPH.

[Richard Stallman]

        [ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider
        [ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,
        [ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example.

    > What is the legal status of the FAQ?  Who are the contributors?

      Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2010 Free Software Foundation,
      Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02111, USA

      This file is free software; as a special exception the author gives
      unlimited permission to copy and/or distribute it, with or without
      modifications, as long as this notice is preserved.

This license permits reusing the material under the GFDL.

    Copyright assignments have never been requested, though.

We can make exceptions about copyright assignments for parts
of a work, so let's make an exception for the FAQ material.

(It probably needs substantial rewriting to become good text
for a manual -- so you won't be using it verbatim.)

    > Likewise for the HOWTOS that you want to use.

    Some are GPL, other are all permissive.

The ones that are all permissive, we can copy from.  For the ones that
are GPL, could you identify the text that you want to use?  When we
see how much it is, we can decide what to do.  Perhaps rewrite it.  Perhaps
ask the authors to cooperate.

    > Could you explain why you think that license is desirable?

    I already did that:

No, you didn't.  You only made a general statement that you
think CC-BY-SA|GPL would solve some kinds of problems.
I don't think it would help at all.

So let's investigate it concretely.  Could you tell me
one work that you think you could include, if you switched the manual
to CC-BY-SA|GPL, but could not include now?
What license does that work carry now?

    We have lots of new texts readiliy available but can't include them due
    the the license conflict.

I don't think the change you are asking for would solve any of the
conflicts.  With a specific case to examine, we will know for certain.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman
President, Free Software Foundation
51 Franklin St
Boston MA 02110
USA
www.fsf.org  www.gnu.org
Skype: No way! That's nonfree (freedom-denying) software.
  Use Ekiga or an ordinary phone call.