[scribus] French doc

[Gregory Pittman]

On 07/15/2011 10:35 AM, a.l.e wrote:
> hi
>
>>> short question: is there any way to get the official manual under a
>>> real and recognized free license which:
>>>
>>> - could be recognized as such by debian / ubuntu (and we then would
>>> have the doc automatically installed for many of our users!).
>>>
>>> - may stimulate more people to get involved in translating and
>>> updating the doc.
>>>
>>> personally, i tend not to add a word to it, because its license is
>>> not compatible with the ones used in the other contexts i contribute.
>>>
>> Why should we free up the license so anyone can print it out and sell it?
>
> some questions addressed to the authors of the book:
>
>
> what's the problem if anyone can print it out and sell it?
>
> do you really think that somebody would print it out and sell it?
> why hasn't anybody asked you (plural) for the rights to commercially
> print it? (as far as i know...)
>
> don't you think that if somebody manages to do some real money by
> professionally printing the content of the online help, he will have put
> much money and energy in promoting his book? (and thus his "profit"
> would be justified?)
>
> has anybody had any advantage from the restrictions on the use of the
> online help?
>
> don't you think that if somebody manages to make money by printing it,
> the whole community will profit from it?
>
>
> my proposition: put it under CC-BY-SA. if anybody manages to print it,
> you can scrap his content and reprint it yourself, too (and integrate
> his changes in your copy) or make an even better online help in scribus.
>
> this is the license used for the wiki.
> this is a license which is compatible with the debian free software
> polices.
>
> and well, i'm not just asking for the fun of doing so...
> i notice that the authors struggle in keeping the help up to date, and
> it's even harder to keep up to date (or even create) translation of the
> help.
> and i wonder if choosing a more liberal license would help...
>
I can only speak for myself in regard to whatever documentation I do. 
The work I have done is meant to benefit the Scribus project in terms of 
whatever contribution it makes, and financially if that comes about as 
any possibility. I see this as a trade for the fact that there has been 
a huge amount of work done by the devs to make Scribus and make Scribus 
better, which I enjoy, and it's a way of giving back to the project for 
the project's benefit.

I don't see that there is any barrier to someone else taking what I and 
others have done, translating it, and contributing it to the project. If 
they want to translate it, keep it for themselves and profit by it, give 
it whatever licence they want, then perhaps they can write their own 
material. After all, there is nothing to prevent anyone from using 
Scribus, reading what documentation they can find, then writing their 
own manual in their own words and language.

Greg