This page is an overview for choosing a new license for wiki.debian.org.
?TableOfContents(2)
wiki specific constraints
As opposed to usual coduments, wiki pages are usually made of lots of tiny contribution. Therefore the traditional notion of author probably doesn't apply as usually.
- Right to delete stuffs.
Desired features
This section lists the desired features for the new license.
Allow redistribution (in various medias : packages, cd, pdf, etc...) : Yes.
Preserve the license on copies : Yes.
Allow modification by others (add and remove) : Yes.
Allow derivative works : Yes.
Mix / Merge with other documents (with same or compatible license) : Yes.
Attribution : _not_ wanted (Even thought we actually want to attribute the work to their original author, I believe it isn't possible to guarantee that all work attribution will be preserved over time. Furthermore, the actual name of the author isn't always known)
Allow commercial uses of your work ??? (probably yes : Debian has commercial derivatives. We don't want to prevent those derivatives from providing a package that contains a copy of the wiki).
Proposed licenses
Here are some proposed licenses for the wiki.
?Anchor(GFDL)
GFDL 1.2
[http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/fdl.html GFDL] 1.2 License ([wiki:DFSGLicenses Debian DFSG], [wiki:GNU_Free_Documentation_License Wikipedia])
- Attribution :
- The GFDL really focus on attribution, which is a feature we don't want that much.
?Anchor(MIT)
MIT
[http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php MIT] License ([wiki:DFSGLicenses Debian DFSG], [wiki:MIT_License Wikipedia])
- Attribution enforced :
Copyright (c) <year> <copyright holders> [..] The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies However it also says or substantial portions of the Software.
?Anchor(BSD)
BSD
[http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php BSD] License ([http://www.freebsd.org/copyright/freebsd-doc-license.html FreeBSD] copy, [wiki:?DFSGLicenses# Debian DFSG], [wiki:BSD_licenses Wikipedia]).
- Attribution enforced :
Copyright (c) <YEAR>, <OWNER> ; All rights reserved. [..] Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
?Anchor(public-domain)
Public Domain
Public domain interpretation : [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/ Creative Commons], [wiki:Public_domain Wikipedia].
- Implicit public domain don't allow duplication :
[..] The distribution of many types of Internet postings (particularly Usenet articles and messages sent to electronic mailing lists) inherently involves duplication. The act of posting such a work can therefore be taken to imply consent to a certain amount of copying, as dictated by the technical details of the manner of distribution. However, it does not imply total waiver of copyright.([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain#.28Almost.29_everything_written_down_is_copyrighted wikipedia]).
See also:
Licenses For Documentation ?BR http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/index_html#DocumentationLicenses-~
OSI Licenses ~-?BR http://www.opensource.org/licenses/category
Wikipedia : Free_software_licence
http://wikiangela.com/wiki/GNU_Wiki_License Wiki specific licenses.
Sample wiki licenses
[http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Documentation#license wiki.creativecommons.org] is under [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License]
[http://gplv3.fsf.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page#footer fsf.org wiki] is under []