Hello,
I am proposing a new project called WikiCode, A free source code repository. I'd appreciate it if you could all look over the project page at
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiCode
I'd also applicate, comments, suggestions, a list of people interested because i'd really like to see this become a project.
Thank you, Ryan524 http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ryan524
On 12/30/06, Ryan Bilesky rbilesky@gmail.com wrote:
Hello,
I am proposing a new project called WikiCode, A free source code repository. I'd appreciate it if you could all look over the project page at
There already is such a project at: http://en.literateprograms.org/
Erik Moeller wrote:
On 12/30/06, Ryan Bilesky rbilesky@gmail.com wrote:
Hello,
I am proposing a new project called WikiCode, A free source code repository. I'd appreciate it if you could all look over the project page at
There already is such a project at: http://en.literateprograms.org/
I will say that there is a need (particularly on Wikibooks, but elsewhere could be useful) to have a repository of software that would allow you to archive code snippets that are incompatable with the GFDL.
Of particular note is the huge incompatability with the GPL and the GFDL, where it would be nice to do commentary (aka annotated texts or even instructional textbooks) that would bring in GPL code sample that could be included with a Wikibooks about say C++ programming. Or to have as an appendix some software that is available under the GPL. The current licensing system on Wikibooks makes this impossible to have both on the same page and is a copyright violation to GPL examples to Wikibooks, except under some more obscure fair-use provisions.
At the moment, most Wikibooks authors have a "work around" that places all code samples on Source Forge, but it is an unsatesfactory solution in many ways. Besides the fact that Source Forge doesn't really link in cleanly with Wikimedia projects (being an external link), you also have to do the hassle of having to "manually" insert the GPL'd text into the GFDL'd text if you want a personal copy, and then you can't redistribute the combined work either.
The other issue is that if a software developer uses Wikibooks for some tips on creating software, he is "contaminated" with perhaps some software examples written under the GFDL that can't be used in GPL'd code. Or even with software under most other licenses as well except for the most trivial examples.
I don't know how many Wikibooks are really being held up because of this issue, but it is something that has been lingering for some time. Mixing Wikimedia and non-Wikimedia content may also work, but there are some further problems that can hold things up. And certainly not idea.
The real solution would be to have the FSF change the GFDL to be compatable with the GPL (and the other way too!), but this is the wrong mailing list to make such a gripe. Frankly I consider this ought to be embarassing to the FSF. I know it has been brought up numerous times in the various discussion forums of the FSF and is not a new issue.
Another work-around in terms of at least having a common repository for something like a Wikibook about C++ programming might be at least having an independent Wikimedia project that has its content available under licensing terms compatable with the GFDL and GPL (perhaps dual-licensed?). This way the content is under the control of the WMF and shares the same fate in terms of wheither the source code can remain accessable, which can't be said about either the Literate Programs group or Source Forge. While I find it more plausable that the WMF will fold up and shut down its server farm before Source Forge does, the opposite sceniero is also just as possible.
In other words, I think there is a practical siter project supporting role that such a Wikimedia project of software source code examples could provide and be a valuable addition to the Wikimedia family of sister projects. It shouldn't be dismissed completely.
On 30/12/06, Robert Scott Horning robert_horning@netzero.net wrote:
The real solution would be to have the FSF change the GFDL to be compatable with the GPL (and the other way too!), but this is the wrong mailing list to make such a gripe. Frankly I consider this ought to be embarassing to the FSF. I know it has been brought up numerous times in the various discussion forums of the FSF and is not a new issue.
The GFDL ought to be embarrassing to the FSF, but anyway.
Another work-around in terms of at least having a common repository for something like a Wikibook about C++ programming might be at least having an independent Wikimedia project that has its content available under licensing terms compatable with the GFDL and GPL (perhaps dual-licensed?).
An obvious workaround for now is for authors to explicitly dual-licence their code contributions to the book as GFDL and GPL. There's no way to enforce that for future contributors to that book, though. But it should be easy enough to make it WikiBooks recommended best practice.
In other words, I think there is a practical siter project supporting role that such a Wikimedia project of software source code examples could provide and be a valuable addition to the Wikimedia family of sister projects. It shouldn't be dismissed completely.
Indeed - it's something that would be useful as a service project as well. Dual license everything on it under GFDL (for reusability in the rest of Wikimedia text) plus at least one FSF-approved Free Software license, DFSG-approved Free license or OSI-approved Open Source license. (I say "or" to catch stuff like the Netscape Public License, which is FSF-free but not OSI-open, and I believe there's at least one licence which is OSI-open but not FSF-free. And then there's the GFDL, which isn't DFSG-free.)
[DFSG = Debian Free Software Guidelines, which OSI's requirements are based on]
- d.
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