[HN Gopher] Why Free Software Needs Free Documentation ___________________________________________________________________ Why Free Software Needs Free Documentation Author : crazypython Score : 29 points Date : 2020-12-15 21:35 UTC (1 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.gnu.org) (TXT) w3m dump (www.gnu.org) | [deleted] | musicale wrote: | Someone deleted an interesting comment I wanted to vote up about | OpenSSL (I believe) simply ignoring documentation contributions. | musicale wrote: | > The authors of the good manuals had written them for O'Reilly | Associates, | | I see the bar is relatively... low. | | That being said, I expect the reason authors wrote for O'Reilly | was so they could actually get paid. | | > The obstacle is that many users think that a proprietary manual | is good enough--so they don't see the need to write a free | manual. They do not see that the free operating system has a gap | that needs filling. | | The biggest obstacle is probably either a) finding money to pay a | good writer or b) finding a good writer who is happy to work | without pay. | PaulDavisThe1st wrote: | (c) finding a good writer able and willing to do the work under | any conditions. | cycloptic wrote: | I think you may have missed this part: | | >The problem with these manuals was not that O'Reilly | Associates charged a price for printed copies--that in itself | is fine. | Uehreka wrote: | If you're saying people need to make their content available | for free with an option to pay for a printed copy, then | you're telling them they can't make money from their work, | which is the thing at issue. | | And we can argue about whether authors of books about FOSS | tools should embrace the same ethos as those tools' | developers, but it seems silly to hide the ball or act like | there's a win-win solution hiding in plain sight. | bnkl wrote: | Heaven forbid that free software authors want some sort of | income. | | There are those that do not have a free office in MIT and a Mc | Arthur grant. | | Apart from that, really only the leaders of big projects that | were low hanging fruit in the 1990s and 2000s cash in massively, | while most of the work is done by others. | ssivark wrote: | _"[...] The issues for writings are not necessarily the same as | those for software. For example, I don 't think you or I are | obliged to give permission to modify articles like this one, | which describe our actions and our views. But there is a | particular reason why the freedom to modify is crucial for | documentation for free software. When people exercise their right | to modify the software, and add or change its features, if they | are conscientious they will change the manual too--so they can | provide accurate and usable documentation with the modified | program. A manual which forbids programmers from being | conscientious and finishing the job, or more precisely requires | them to write a new manual from scratch if they change the | program, does not fill our community's needs. While a blanket | prohibition on modification is unacceptable, some kinds of limits | on the method of modification pose no problem. For example, | requirements to preserve the original author's copyright notice, | the distribution terms, or the list of authors, are OK. It is | also no problem to require modified versions to include notice | that they were modified, even to have entire sections that may | not be deleted or changed, as long as these sections deal with | nontechnical topics.[...]"_ | ignoranceprior wrote: | Kinda ironic that the GFDL isn't even considered a free license | by Debian, at least when invariant sections are included. | mattl wrote: | Invariant sections aren't free, surely? | egypturnash wrote: | Where's the GNU grant program to help fund the time it takes to | write a good manual for something, then? Complete with people | whose job at least partially involves finding folks who have had | something worthwhile to say about a program, and convincing them | that they want to spend the next few months of their lives | expanding it into Serious Documentation? ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2020-12-15 23:00 UTC)