Changeset - 728c800bf3cc
[Not reviewed]
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Bradley Kuhn (bkuhn) - 10 years ago 2014-03-19 13:54:12
bkuhn@ebb.org
Add better introduction to this section on defined terms,
including a nice anecdote.
1 file changed with 17 insertions and 1 deletions:
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gpl-lgpl.tex
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@@ -2183,25 +2183,41 @@ GPLv3 that's possible is by default less than a decade.
 
These two factors usually cause even new students of GPL to start with GPLv2
 
and move on to GPLv3, and this tutorial follows that pattern.
 

	
 
Overall, the changes made in GPLv3 admittedly \textit{increased} the
 
complexity of the license.  The FSF stated at the start of the GPLv3 process
 
that they would have liked to oblige those who have asked for a simpler and
 
shorter GPL\@.  Ultimately, the FSF gave priority to making GPLv3 do the job
 
that needs to be done to build a better copyleft.  Obsession for concision
 
should never trump software freedom.
 

	
 
\section{GPLv3~\S0: Giving In On ``Defined Terms''}
 

	
 
% FIXME: intro defined terms
 
One of lawyers' most common complaints about GPLv2 is that defined terms in
 
the document appear throughout.  Most licenses define terms up-front.
 
However, GPL was always designed both as a document that should be easily
 
understood both by lawyers and by software developers: it is a document
 
designed to give freedom to software developers and users, and therefore it
 
should be comprehensible to that constituency.
 

	
 
Interestingly enough, one coauthor of this tutorial who is both a lawyer and
 
a developer pointed out that in law school, she understood defined terms more
 
quickly than other law students precisely because of her programming
 
background.  For developers, having \verb0#define0 (in the C programming
 
language) or other types of constants and/or macros that automatically expand
 
in the place where they are used is second nature.  As such, adding a defined
 
terms section was not terribly problematic for developers, and thus GPLv3
 
adds one.  Most of these defined terms are somewhat straightforward and bring
 
forward better worded definitions from GPLv2.  Herein, this tutorial
 
discusses a few of the new ones.
 

	
 
% FIXME: rewrite to FOUR new terms
 

	
 
Section 0 includes definitions of two new terms: ``covered work'' and
 
``propagate.''  The use of the term ``covered work'' enables some of the
 
wording in the revised GPL to be simpler and clearer.
 

	
 
% FIXME: rewrite propagate 
 

	
 
The term ``propagate'' serves two purposes.  First, ``propagate'' provides
 
a simple and convenient means for distinguishing between the kinds of
 
uses of a work that the GPL imposes conditions on and the kinds of
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