[GRASS5] Re: GNU Free Documentation License and maps (Jan-Oliver Wagner)

[Jan-Oliver Wagner]

On Thu, Oct 23, 2003 at 11:00:22AM -0400, Greg Sepesi wrote:
> Some data, such as a lookup table, is closely tied to source code and
> should be protected as such.  However in my opinion, map data is like
> JPEG data, which is typically considered documentation.  That's why I
> think FDL is a good fit for map data, even when in binary (as opposed to
> text) form.

on the other hand, for all the vector data you can distinguish between
source code (the preferred format for maintenance) and binary code (the
format for efficient use). There is no such dual aspect for documentation
in the GNU FDL. Because it would not make sense since for
text there are numerous forms for editable format qualified as 'usual'
(almost any except printout :-).

Example: I would consider MrSID format as binary form. If I reveive
a MrSID file of Free Data I want to have the guarantee that there is
some source code form where I could incorporate my changed to update
the MrSID file. This situation is clearified in the GPL, but not in
the FDL.

However, as I already said earlier, it is a complicated topic and
in the end of the day we need a special license for GI because neither
GPL not FDL licenses is perfect for this purpose. 

Best

	Jan
-- 
Jan-Oliver Wagner               http://intevation.de/~jan/

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