Re: Request to remove info files

[Jörg Sommer <joerg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi John,

"John E. Davis" <davis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Jörg Sommer <joerg@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> somewhen you've mentioned the info pages are outdated and should be
>> removed. Can you do it, please? In Debian, we have the problem that the
>> info pages mention the file jed.ti as source file and because this file
>> is not in the source tree, these file violate the GPL. We can't ship
>> them.
>
> The Makefile in the latest svn snapshot will not install the info
> files.  They are still part of the distribution for historical
> purposes but need not be distributed in a binary package.
> I hope this minor change is sufficient.

I'm sorry, but it isn't.

The info files are still part of the source tarball, which Debian will
ship to fulfill the requirements of the GPL. The info files state they
were built from the file jed.ti (first two lines in jed.info), i.e. the
/prefered form for modifications/ of these files is to modify the file
jed.ti. The GPL say you have to ship for each file it's prefered form for
modifications. I.e. if the file jed.ti is no present, it's a violation of
the GPL.

For a text file like the info pages this sounds really silly, but the
next step is a file in PDF. You can edit such a file with scribus and
other tools, so the file itself might be the prefered form for
modifications while it is a BLOB. The next step is a firmware image which
can be written with an hexeditor. You wouldn't violate the GPL in this
case. But if it was compiled from a source it is a violation. The same as
a PDF file without the LaTeX source and an info file without the source.

I'm really sorry for being so pedantic, but we Debian people want to be
more catholic than the pope. :-)

Simply, remove the lines in jed.1in, jed.3in and jed.info saying these
files were generated and we are happy.

diff --git a/info/jed.1in b/info/jed.1in
index f72bdf5..6f9f7ae 100644
--- a/info/jed.1in
+++ b/info/jed.1in
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-This is Info file jed.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.55 from the input
-file jed.ti.
-
 
 File: jed.info,  Node: Top,  Next: Introduction,  Up: (dir)
 
diff --git a/info/jed.3in b/info/jed.3in
index 7f7916d..bc79b7d 100644
--- a/info/jed.3in
+++ b/info/jed.3in
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-This is Info file jed.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.55 from the input
-file jed.ti.
-
 
 File: jed.info,  Node: Setting Keys,  Next: Predefined Variables,  Up: Customization
 
diff --git a/info/jed.info b/info/jed.info
index bd9b760..ae47cd7 100644
--- a/info/jed.info
+++ b/info/jed.info
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-This is Info file jed.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.55 from the input
-file jed.ti.
-
 START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
 * JED: (jed).         The JED editor
 END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

Bye, Jörg.
-- 
Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.
                                             (Soren Kierkegaard)

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