Re: [Texmacs-dev] Licensing question about font files

[Joris van der Hoeven]

Hi Rene,

On Mon, May 08, 2006 at 06:56:10PM +0200, René van Bevern wrote:
> Hello Joris,
> 
> > The last versions of TeXmacs come with an optional package of extra
> > type 1 fonts. [...] Several people complained that I did not include
> > a license file yet.
> 
> ;-)
> 
> > My question: under which license should I make the fonts available?
> > Can I distribute them under the GNU GPL (my prefered solution), or
> > am I obliged to distribute them under the LaTeX Project Public
> > License?
> 
> As I read the LaTeX Project Public License [1], you are clearly
> allowed to distribute derived works iff the license in question
> satisfies the 6th clause of the LPPL (written in §10). In case you
> would provide the derived work (I consider your font package being
> one) you would need to also provide the font files in a form that is
> prefered for modification.
> 
> But I see another problem with distributing the fonts package with the
> GPL. I do see differences between the GPL and §6 of the LPPL: part a)
> and b) are covered by the GPL, as it requires the same, but d) is
> not. The GPL does not require anybody to include or link the
> unmodified LaTeX in a derived work. So somebody could base a work off
> your GPLed fonts package and remove the reference to LaTeX (the
> unmodified, original work). This is allowed by the GPL but not by the
> LPPL.
> 
> The FSF also seems to think that the LPPL is incompatible with the
> GPL, although they have not thoroughly checked the latest version. [2]

Thanks for your analysis. I fear that I will have to distribute
the files under this irritating LPPL license. Anyone sees a way
to escape from this?

Best wishes, Joris