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.