www/distros free-system-distribution-guidelines...

[Karl Berry]

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Karl Berry <karl>       10/10/04 19:44:07

Modified files:
        distros        : free-system-distribution-guidelines.html 

Log message:
        blank lines, spaces

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.17&r2=1.18

Patches:
Index: free-system-distribution-guidelines.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html,v
retrieving revision 1.17
retrieving revision 1.18
diff -u -b -r1.17 -r1.18
--- free-system-distribution-guidelines.html    4 Oct 2010 19:38:03 -0000       
1.17
+++ free-system-distribution-guidelines.html    4 Oct 2010 19:44:04 -0000       
1.18
@@ -15,22 +15,27 @@
 <!-- /licensing/writings/free-system-distribution-guidelines.txt. -->
 
 <h3 id="introduction">Introduction</h3>
+
 <p>The purpose of these guidelines is to explain what it means for a
 system distribution (such as a GNU/Linux distribution) to qualify as free,
 and help distribution developers make their distributions qualify.</p>
+
 <p>These guidelines are not complete.  We have mentioned the issues we
 are aware of now, but we're sure there are more.  We will add them
 when we come across them.</p>
+
 <p>We would like to thank the Fedora Project for their help in focusing
 these policies, and allowing us to use their own distribution license
 guidelines as a basis for this document.</p>
 
 <h3 id="license-rules">License Rules</h3>
+
 <p>&ldquo;Information for practical use&rdquo;
 includes software, documentation, fonts, and other data that has
 direct functional applications.  It does not include artistic works
 that have an aesthetic (rather than functional) purpose, or statements
 of opinion or judgment.</p>
+
 <p>All information for practical use in a free distribution must be
 available in source form.  (&ldquo;Source&rdquo; means the form of the
 information that is preferred for making changes to it.)</p>
@@ -44,16 +49,19 @@
 free, it can be included in the system; the system developers just
 need to follow the terms of the available free license(s) when they
 distribute and/or modify it.</p>
+
 <p>A free system distribution must not steer users towards obtaining any
 nonfree information for practical use, or encourage them to do so.
 There should be no repositories or ports for nonfree software.
 Programs in the system should not suggest installing nonfree plugins,
 documentation, and so on.</p>
+
 <p>A free system distribution should be self-hosting.  This means that
 you must be able to develop and build the system with tools that the
 system provides you.  As a result, a free system distribution cannot
 include free software that can only be built by using nonfree
 software.</p>
+
 <p>There's a lot of code in most free system distributions today; the
 amount of effort it would take to audit it all directly is impractical
 for most teams.  In the past, some nonfree code has accidentally been
@@ -61,22 +69,26 @@
 because of this; instead, we only ask that a distribution put forth a
 good faith effort to avoid including nonfree software, and commit
 itself to removing such programs if they are discovered later.</p>
+
 <p>Certain kinds of license situations merit special attention for people
 creating or considering free software distributions; those are
 discussed in the sections below.</p>
 
 <h3 id="nonfree-firmware">Nonfree Firmware</h3>
+
 <p>Some applications and drivers require firmware to function, and
 sometimes that firmware is distributed only in object code form, under
 a nonfree license.  We call these firmware programs
 &ldquo;blobs.&rdquo; On most GNU/Linux systems, you'll typically find
 these accompanying some drivers in the kernel Linux.  Such firmware
 should be removed from a free system distribution.</p>
+
 <p>Blobs can take many forms.  Sometimes, they will be provided in
 separate files.  Other times, they may be incorporated into the source
 of the driver itself&mdash;for example, it could be encoded as a large
 array of numbers.  But no matter how it's encoded, any nonfree
 firmware needs to be removed from a free system.</p>
+
 <p>(To be clear, not every array of numbers in a driver is firmware.
 It's important to understand the purpose of the data before deciding
 whether or not it's appropriate for a free system.)</p>
@@ -94,6 +106,7 @@
 Software Directory</a>.</p>
 
 <h3 id="non-functional-data">Non-functional Data</h3>
+
 <p>Data that has an aesthetic purpose, rather than a functional one,
 may be included in a free system distribution as long as its license
 gives you permission to copy and redistribute, both for commercial and
@@ -104,47 +117,56 @@
 part of a free system distribution.</p>
 
 <h3 id="trademarks">Trademarks</h3>
+
 <p>Trademarks are associated with some software.  For example, the
-  name of a program may be trademarked, or its interface may display a
-  trademarked logo.  Often, the use of these marks will be controlled
-  in some way; in particular, developers are commonly asked to remove
-  references to the trademark from the software when they modify
-  it.</p>
+name of a program may be trademarked, or its interface may display a
+trademarked logo.  Often, the use of these marks will be controlled
+in some way; in particular, developers are commonly asked to remove
+references to the trademark from the software when they modify
+it.</p>
+
 <p>In extreme cases, these restrictions may effectively render the
-  program nonfree.  It is unfair for someone to ask you to remove a
-  trademark from modified code if that trademark is scattered all
-  throughout the original source.  As long as the practical
-  requirements are reasonable, however, free system distributions may
-  include these programs, either with or without the trademarks.</p>
+program nonfree.  It is unfair for someone to ask you to remove a
+trademark from modified code if that trademark is scattered all
+throughout the original source.  As long as the practical
+requirements are reasonable, however, free system distributions may
+include these programs, either with or without the trademarks.</p>
+
 <p>Similarly, the distribution itself may hold particular trademarks.
-  It is not a problem if modification requires removal of these
-  trademarks, as long as they can readily be removed without losing
-  functionality.</p>
-<p>
-  However, it is unacceptable to use trademarks to restrict verbatim
-  copying and redistribution of the whole distribution, or any part.</p>
+It is not a problem if modification requires removal of these
+trademarks, as long as they can readily be removed without losing
+functionality.</p>
+
+<p>However, it is unacceptable to use trademarks to restrict verbatim
+copying and redistribution of the whole distribution, or any part.</p>
 
 <h3 id="documentation">Documentation</h3>
+
 <p>All the documentation in a free system distribution must be released
 under an appropriate free license.  Additionally, it must take care
 not to recommend nonfree software.</p>
+
 <p>In general, something that helps people who already use nonfree
 software to use the free software better with it is acceptable, but
 something that encourages users of the free software to install
 nonfree software is harmful.</p>
+
 <p>For example, a free system distribution may have documentation for
 users setting up dual boot systems.  It could explain how to access
 filesystems of the proprietary operating system, import settings
 from it, and so on.  That would be helping people install a free
 system distribution on a machine which already has proprietary
 software, which is good.</p>
+
 <p>What would be unacceptable is for the documentation to give people
 instructions for installing a nonfree program on the system, or
 mention conveniences they might gain by doing so.</p>
+
 <p>For a borderline case, a clear and serious exhortation not to use the
 nonfree program would clearly make it acceptable.</p>
 
 <h3 id="patents">Patents</h3>
+
 <p>It is effectively impossible for free software developers and
 distributors to know whether or not a given piece of software
 infringes any patents: there are too many of them, they vary from
@@ -156,6 +178,7 @@
 software in order to avoid patent risk.</p>
 
 <h3 id="mistakes">Commitment to Correct Mistakes</h3>
+
 <p>Most distribution development teams don't have the resources to
 perfectly check and make sure that their distribution meet all these
 criteria.  Neither do we.  So we expect developers to occasionally
@@ -165,12 +188,12 @@
 any mistakes that are reported to them.</p>
 
 <h3 id="maintenance">Maintenance</h3>
+
 <p>To be listed, a distribution should be actively maintained,
 and should give the GNU Project a clear and specific way to report problems
 of non-free software that we find out about.  It should also
 inform us when the problems we have reported are fixed.</p>
 
-
 <h3 id="upstream">Contacting Upstream If You're Downstream</h3>
 
 <p>For distro developers (or anyone else) who have sent an important bug
@@ -180,7 +203,6 @@
 This is especially warranted if you can't find evidence of recent
 activity by the package maintainer.</p>
 
-
 <h3 id="final-notes">Final Notes</h3>
 
 <p>We maintain a list of the <a href="/distros/free-distros.html">free
@@ -209,35 +231,27 @@
 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
 <div id="footer">
 
-<p>
-Please send FSF &amp; GNU inquiries to 
+<p>Please send FSF &amp; GNU inquiries to 
 <a href="mailto:address@hidden";>&lt;address@hidden&gt;</a>.
 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> 
-the FSF.
-<br />
+the FSF.<br />
 Please send broken links and other corrections or suggestions to
-<a href="mailto:address@hidden";>&lt;address@hidden&gt;</a>.
-</p>
+<a href="mailto:address@hidden";>&lt;address@hidden&gt;</a>.</p>
 
-<p>
-Please see the 
-<a href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
-README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting
-translations of this article.
-</p>
+<p>Please see the <a
+href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations
+of this article.</p>
+
+<p>Copyright &copy; 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p>
 
-<p>
-Copyright &copy; 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-</p>
 <p>Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are
 permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this
-notice, and the copyright notice, are preserved.
-</p>
+notice, and the copyright notice, are preserved.</p>
 
-<p>
-Updated:
+<p>Updated:
 <!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2010/10/04 19:38:03 $
+$Date: 2010/10/04 19:44:04 $
 <!-- timestamp end -->
 </p>
 </div>