I'm promoting use of the FDL for textbooks and lecture notes at our
university. It critically depends on section 3.
The specific question is: *If I publish my own work
as a PDF under the FDL in the web, do I need to
provide the LaTeX sources?*
Section 3 of the FDL requires publishing a transparent copy if more
than 100 opaque copies are published.
Since PDF is opaque, the background questions are
- Does the FDL apply in full to the original author as well? Ie.,
does the term `copy' in sec 3 denote `piece' (also original) or
`REprocution' (which does not cover the original)?
- IF it applies, how many units are published when I put the file
online? One? As many as downloads? [1]
- IF more than 100, publishing the pdf without the tex violates the
FDL. Yet, since only the copyright holder could pursue the offence,
and that's me, for all /practical/ matters I'd be fine?
Clearly, I can't recommend to use a license and infringe it: What
license would you recommend for those who like the FDL but are
unwilling to reveal their LaTeX sources?
Thanks for any insights,
hwe
[1] If one publishes as often as there are downloads, the license
would encourage taking content offline as soon as 99 are reached --
hardly the intention of a free license. Also, since this timed taking
offline is a prohibitive effort, the FDL would discourage putting the
document online: It was made for ~20 students, so handing print-outs
would be FDL compliant. I don't believe the FDL wants to provide
incentives to hide the text offline, either.