Copyleft/guide Changeset - 6bf9d0f7b7da

Changeset - 6bf9d0f7b7da

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Bradley M. Kuhn - 21 years ago 2003-05-29 19:15:47
bkuhn@fsf.org

* Wrote about GPL Section 7

2 files changed with 27 insertions and 10 deletions:

GPL-Business/ChangeLog

GPL-Business/gpl-business.tex

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GPL-Business/ChangeLog

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@@ ... / @@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ @@
 	(section{GPL \S 5: Acceptance, Copyright Style}): Wrote section.
 	(section{GPL \S 6: GPL, My One and Only}): Wrote section.
 	(section{GPL \S 8: }): Moved to previous chapter.
 	Added typo fixes from Ammad.
 	(section{GPL \S 7: ``Give Software Liberty of Give It Death!''}):
 	Wrote section.
 -05-28  Bradley M. Kuhn  <bkuhn@fsf.org>

GPL-Business/gpl-business.tex

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@@ ... / @@ -862,21 +862,21 @@ truly GPL'ed. @@
 Software is a strange beast when compared to other copyrightable works.
 It is currently impossible to make a film or a book that can be truly
 obscured.  Ultimately, the full text of a novel must presented to the
 reader as words in some human-readable langauge so that they can enjoy the
 work.  A film, even one directed by David Lynch, must be perceptable by
 reader as words in some human-readable language so that they can enjoy the
 work.  A film, even one directed by David Lynch, must be perceptible by
 human eyes and ears to have any value.
-Software is not so.  While the source code, the human-readible
+Software is not so.  While the source code, the human-readable
 representation of software is of keen interest to programmers, users and
 programmers alike cannot make the proper use of software in that
 human-readible form.  Binary code --- the ones and zeros that the computer
 can understand --- must be producable and attainable for the software to
 human-readable form.  Binary code --- the ones and zeros that the computer
 can understand --- must be predicable and attainable for the software to
 be fully useful.  Without the binaries, be they in object or executable
-form, the software serves only the diadactic purposes of computer science.
+form, the software serves only the didactic purposes of computer science.
 Under copyright law, binary representations of the software are simply
 derivative works of the source code.  Applying a systematic process (i.e.,
-``compilation'') to a work of source code yeilds binary code.  The binary
+``compilation'') to a work of source code yields binary code.  The binary
 code is now a new work of expression fixed in the tangible medium of
 electronic file storage.
@@ ... @@
 However, \S 3 must go a bit further.  Access to the software's source code
 is an incontestable prerequisite for the exercise of the fundamental
 freedoms to modify and improve the software.  Making even the most trivial
-changes to a software program at the binary level is effecitvely
+changes to a software program at the binary level is effectively
 impossible.  \S 3 must ensure that the binaries are never distributed
 without the source code, so that these freedoms are ensured to be passed
 along the distribution chain.
@@ ... / @@ -1194,8 +1194,22 @@ software. @@
 In essence, \S 7 is a verbosely worded way of saying for non-copyright
 systems what \S 6 says for copyright.  If there exists any reason that a
 distributor knows of that would prohibit those who would later receive
 the software from the distribution
 distributor knows of that would prohibit later licensees from exercising
 their full rights under GPL, then distribution is prohibited.
 Originally, this was designed as the title of this section suggests --- as
 a last ditch effort to make sure that freedom was upheld.  However, in
 modern times, it has come to give much more.  Now that the body of GPL'ed
 software is so large, patent holders who would want to be distributors of
 GPL'ed software have a tough choice.  They must choose between avoiding
 distribution of GPL'ed software that exercises the teachings of their
 patents, or grant a royalty-free, irrevocable, non-exclusive license to
 those patents.  Many companies, including IBM, the largest patent holder
 in the world, have chosen the latter.
 Thus, \S 7 is rarely gives software death by stopping its distribution.
 Instead, it is inspiring patent holders to share their patents in the same
 freedom-defending way that they share their copyrighted works.
 \section{GPL \S 8: Finding Freedonia}
 \label{GPLs8}

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