Packaging Guide License

[Jordan Mantha]

Matthew East wrote:
> On Fri, 2005-12-02 at 19:35 -0800, Jordan Mantha wrote:
>> Hi all!
>>    After a discussion with mpt and Madpilot on #ubuntu-doc I have become 
>> concerned about the license for the Ubuntu Packaging Guide. I took the 
>> guide from a doc done by Ankur Kotwal for the MOTU. The .deb package has 
>> a GPL license so assume that the doc is GPL'd. This means that the 
>> Ubuntu Packaging Guide needs to be GPL'd. I believe that it was GPL'd 
>> because it includes quite  a bit of material from the Debian New 
>> Maintainer's Guide. However, it also had quite a bit from the Ubuntu 
>> wiki (which is not GPL ?). At this point I am wondering what the best 
>> way to go is. Can the Ubuntu Packaging Guide be GPL'd considering the 
>> wiki content? Should the whole thing be rewritten? I am not opposed to 
>> that but it would be some work.
> 
> No, I think that is absolutely fine. The wiki is a free for all (IMO). I
> think the GPL makes sense.
> 
> We're working on making the wiki licence a bit clearer: see
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WikiLicensing
> 
> M
> 
I might be showing my lack of licensing knowledge here but doesn't a 
lack of license mean that it cannot be used since a license would 
describe circumstances where you can take material not when you can't. I 
think that this was bounced around some time ago for the wiki and forums 
perhaps (I can't remember right now). I am fine with GPLing the 
Packaging Guide but it seems like that would be sort of going against 
the flow of using dual GFDL and CC-BY-SA license. However, I have 
virtually no knowledge on this subject (I'm a chemist and not a lawyer) 
so I will defer to those with more knowledge. I just want to make sure 
that this project doesn't get off on the wrong foot.

-Jordan