[tex-live] British hyphenation not freely distributable?

[Gerben Wierda]

On Saturday, Jul 26, 2003, at 12:35 Europe/Amsterdam, Michel Bovani 
wrote:

>
> Le samedi, 26 juil 2003, à 10:57 Europe/Paris, Gerben Wierda a écrit :
>
>>>   % The Plain TeX hyphenation tables [NOT TO BE CHANGED IN ANY WAY!]
>>>   % Unlimited copying and redistribution of this file are permitted 
>>> as long
>>>   % as this file is not modified. Modifications are permitted, but 
>>> only if
>>>   % the resulting file is not named hyphen.tex.
>>
>> This claims copyright on the file name which in my view goes beyond 
>> what copyright shoul dbe able to do. Sorry DEK.
>
> LPPL licence claims :
>
>   3. You must not distribute the modified file with the filename of the
>      original file.
>
> Do you mean that LaTeX should be removed from texlive (well : plenty 
> of free room for the demo cd -)

Not at all. I just think that this claim might not be enforcable in 
court. Though in terms of establishing 'fathership's rights' it might 
be.

I do not know for certain. The only thing I do know is that dropping 
this claim in LPPL (as well as in other TeX sources) does not affect 
fathership's rights nor does it really harm TeX, LaTeX or anyone. And 
the claim as is forces upon us that certain parts need to be renamed if 
they are to become 'improvable'. That is holding back innovation, or at 
least it implies a administrative hurdle, because it claims room in the 
filename namespace. If I want to improve ukhyph.tex I can do so by 
shipping an alternative with a different name. A lot of administrative 
actions follow before people can use it. If I coul dsilently slip in an 
improved/different version under the same name, and the contents of 
that file point to me as the author, it woul dbe easier to improve.

In other words, this 'file namespace' claim is a hurdle for innovators. 
I would like to see it go. I also do not see a very good reason why 
this draconic measure is in place. After all, the filename itself does 
not point directly to an author, so nobody gets hurt when the same 
filename is used for an alternative or even something completely 
different.

G
--
"To be or not to be, that is the question" -- Parmenides