[Foundation-l] Commons:Reuse on GPL/LGPL content

David Gerard dgerard at gmail.com
Thu Jan 11 10:42:05 UTC 2007


I just edited the bit on GPL/LGPL. I took out two paragraphs about how
authors should license their works (since this is the FAQ for outside
*reusers*) and rewrote the rest as follows:

====
GNU GPL and LGPL

The GNU General Public License (GPL) and Lesser General Public License
(LGPL) are computer software licenses and are not usually used for
text or media. However, some content on Commons (e.g. icons or
screenshots from computer programs) is under the GPL or LGPL.

For simple redistribution of such material, including altered
versions, (a) release your version under the same license (b) supply
the source version, i.e. something as editable as what you started
with (e.g. image file, GIMP .xcf file, etc.).

Note that the GNU General Public License (GPL) and the GNU Free
Document License (GFDL) are not compatible with each other. That means
that content licensed under the GFDL as well as content licensed under
the GPL can't be used together simultaneously in the same "work" —
e.g. GPL computer program source embedded in GFDL explicatory text.
However, a GPL image in a GFDL text page is usually regarded as an
aggregation of two works rather than a single work.
====

Could the professionally legally querulous please comment on this?
It's grossly simplified, but is it likely to mislead?


- d.



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