www/licenses license-list.html

[Richard M. Stallman]

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Richard M. Stallman <rms>       14/01/08 01:31:26

Modified files:
        licenses       : license-list.html 

Log message:
        (NoLicense): Reorder and clarify text.

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/licenses/license-list.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.388&r2=1.389

Patches:
Index: license-list.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/licenses/license-list.html,v
retrieving revision 1.388
retrieving revision 1.389
diff -u -b -r1.388 -r1.389
--- license-list.html   27 Dec 2013 21:38:02 -0000      1.388
+++ license-list.html   8 Jan 2014 01:31:25 -0000       1.389
@@ -1524,19 +1524,23 @@
 <p>If source code does not carry a license to give users the
 four essential freedoms, it is not free software.</p>
 
-<p> Copyright law makes all copyrightable works nonfree by default.
-This includes programs.  Therefore, in order for a program to be free,
-its copyright holders must grant users
-the <a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html"> four essential freedoms</a>.
-The document where they do so is called a <em>free software
-license</em>.  This is the function of free software licenses.</p>
-
 <p>Some developers think that code with no license is in the public
-domain.  Alas, that is not true.  In some countries, users that
-download it may not be legally allowed to run it.</p>
-
-<p>If you want to put the code in the public domain,
-use <a href="#CC0">CC0</a>.  However, in most cases it
+domain.  That is not true under today's copyright law; rather, all
+copyrightable works are nonfree by default.  This includes programs.
+In some countries, users that download code with no license may
+infringe copyright merely by compiling it or running it.</p>
+
+<p>In order for a program to be free, its copyright holders must
+explicitly grant users the <a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html"> four
+essential freedoms</a>.  The document with which they do so is called
+a <em>free software license</em>.  This is what free software
+licenses are for.</p>
+
+<p>Some countries allow authors to put code in the public domain, but
+that requires explicit action.  If you wish to do that, the method we
+recommend is to use <a href="#CC0">CC0</a>, which also works in other
+countries by putting on a license that is more or less equivalent to
+public domain.  However, in most cases it
 is <a href="/licenses/license-recommendations.html"> better to
 copyleft your code</a> to assure that freedom reaches all users of the
 code.</p>
@@ -2279,7 +2283,7 @@
 
 <p>Updated:
 <!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2013/12/27 21:38:02 $
+$Date: 2014/01/08 01:31:25 $
 <!-- timestamp end -->
 </p>
 </div>