[fab] [Fwd: Free software and Fedora: Dissected]

[Paul W. Frields]

On Fri, 2006-08-04 at 10:08 -0500, Jason L Tibbitts III wrote:
> >> So are anonymous modifications permitted?  It would seem to be
> >> overly restrictive otherwise.
> 
> TC> Probably not, but this is not terribly unusual. See the Linux
> TC> kernel.
> 
> I don't see how that applies.  Yes, I must identify myself in order
> for my changes to be accepted into Linus's tree (and meet various
> coding standards and such), but my freedom is not restricted because
> I'm still allowed to anonymously modify and redistribute as long as I
> comply with the GPL.  Under this license I am not, or so it seems.
> 
> Or, to put it another way, a license would definitely not be
> considered free if it restricted modifications to those upholding a
> certain coding standard, yet the Linux kernel requires adherence to
> standards for acceptance into the main tree and is not any less free
> because ot it.

Your analysis is incorrect, insofar as positing that the clause in
question makes this license non-free.  Case in point: the Open
Publication License with no optional clauses is considered a free
(documentation) license by the FSF[1], but it contains a verbatim copy
of the clause in question.  (It also includes a verbatim copy of the
inclusion clause you cited earlier, and from reading over both of them,
I wouldn't be surprised if one was the basis for the other.)  In any
case, license proliferation is annoying. :-)

[1] http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html

-- 
Paul W. Frields, RHCE                          http://paul.frields.org/
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