From a8aa9b44e1ba65ac648b53ff2130506e084678a1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Karl Berry Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 17:29:20 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] autoupdate --- doc/maintain.texi | 29 ++++++++++------------------- doc/standards.texi | 33 ++++++++++++++++++++++++--------- 2 files changed, 34 insertions(+), 28 deletions(-) diff --git a/doc/maintain.texi b/doc/maintain.texi index ee2a6675a..4759a1c02 100644 --- a/doc/maintain.texi +++ b/doc/maintain.texi @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ @c For double-sided printing, uncomment: @c @setchapternewpage odd @c This date is automagically updated when you save this file: -@set lastupdate December 5, 2006 +@set lastupdate January 15, 2007 @c %**end of header @dircategory GNU organization @@ -24,8 +24,9 @@ @copying Information for maintainers of GNU software, last updated @value{lastupdate}. -Copyright (C) 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, -2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc. +Copyright @copyright{} 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, +2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Free Software +Foundation, Inc. @quotation Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies @@ -1536,22 +1537,12 @@ enforced, or we have a suitable patent license allowing release of free software. Beyond that, sometimes the GNU project takes a strong stand against a -particular patented technology in order to encourage everyone to reject -it. - -For example, the GIF file format is covered by the LZW software patent -in the USA. A patent holder has threatened lawsuits against not only -developers of software to produce GIFs, but even web sites that -contain them. - -For this reason, you should not include GIFs in the web pages for your -package, nor in the distribution of the package itself. It is ok for -a GNU package to support displaying GIFs which will come into play if -a user asks it to operate on one. However, it is essential to provide -equal or better support for the competing PNG and JPG -formats---otherwise, the GNU package would be @emph{pressuring} users -to use GIF format, and that it must not do. More about our stand on -GIF is available at @uref{http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/gif.html}. +particular patented technology in order to encourage everyone to +reject it. For example, until the GIF patents expired in 2006, we +specified that GNU packages and web pages should not include GIF image +files, and that equal or better support for other image formats such +as PNG and JPEG was crucial. (These other formats remain superior, so +there is still no particular reason to use GIF's.) Software patents are not the only matter for ethical concern. A GNU package should not recommend use of any non-free program, nor should it diff --git a/doc/standards.texi b/doc/standards.texi index 4403e143f..d909067e6 100644 --- a/doc/standards.texi +++ b/doc/standards.texi @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ @setfilename standards.info @settitle GNU Coding Standards @c This date is automagically updated when you save this file: -@set lastupdate November 30, 2006 +@set lastupdate January 21, 2007 @c %**end of header @dircategory GNU organization @@ -32,8 +32,9 @@ @copying The GNU coding standards, last updated @value{lastupdate}. -Copyright (C) 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, -2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc. +Copyright @copyright{} 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, +2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Free Software +Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 @@ -4014,11 +4015,25 @@ the users of Foobar if the users of Foobar are few.) Sometimes a program is free software in itself but depends on a non-free platform in order to run. For instance, many Java programs -depend on Sun's Java implementation, and won't run on the GNU Java -Compiler (which does not yet have all the features) or won't run with -the GNU Java libraries. To recommend that program is inherently to -recommend the non-free platform as well; if you should not do the -latter, then don't do the former. +depend on the parts of Sun's Java implementation which are not yet +freely available, and won't run on the GNU Java Compiler (which does +not yet have all the features) or won't run with the GNU Java +libraries. We hope this particular problem will be gone in a few +months, when Sun makes the standard Java libraries freely available, +but of course the general principle remains: you should not recommend +programs that depend on non-free software to run. + +Some free programs encourage the use of non-free software. A typical +example is @command{mplayer}. It is free software in itself, and the +free code can handle some kinds of files. However, @command{mplayer} +recommends use of non-free codecs for other kinds of files, and users +that install @command{mplayer} are very likely to install those codecs +along with it. To recommend @command{mplayer} is, in effect, to +recommend the non-free codecs. We must not do that, so we cannot +recommend @command{mplayer} either. + +In general, you should also not recommend programs that themselves +strongly recommend the use of non-free software. A GNU package should not refer the user to any non-free documentation for free software. Free documentation that can be included in free @@ -4032,7 +4047,7 @@ documentation. By contrast, it is ok to refer to journal articles and textbooks in the comments of a program for explanation of how it functions, even though they be non-free. This is because we don't include such things -in the GNU system even if we are allowed to--they are outside the +in the GNU system even if we are allowed to---they are outside the scope of an operating system project. Referring to a web site that describes or recommends a non-free -- 2.11.0