Why Publishers should Use the GNU FDL

GNU Supported by the Free Software Foundation Site navigation Skip ●ABOUT GNU ●PHILOSOPHY ● = LICENSES = ●EDUCATION ●SOFTWARE ●DISTROS ●DOCS ●MALWARE ●HELP GNU ●AUDIO & VIDEO ●GNU ART ●FUN ●GNU'S WHO? ●SOFTWARE DIRECTORY ●HARDWARE ●SITEMAP

byRichard Stallman Can technical writers earn money by writing free documentation for free software? We seriously hope so, and that is the reason for the GNU Free Documentation License. The GFDL is meant as a way to enlist commercial publishers in funding free documentation without surrendering any vital liberty. The “cover text” feature, and certain other aspects of the license that deal with covers, title page, history, and endorsements, are included to make the license appealing to commercial publishers for books whose authors are paid. To improve the appeal, I consulted specifically with staff of publishing companies, as well as lawyers, free documentation writers, and the community at large, in writing the GFDL. At least two commercial publishers of software manuals have told me they are interested in using this license. The future is never a sure thing, but the GFDL looks like it has a good chance to succeed in shaping a social system where commercial publishers pay people to write commercial free manuals for free software.

▲ BACK TO TOP Set language Available for this page: [en] English [ar] العربية [ca] català [de] Deutsch [es] español [fr] français [ja] 日本語 [ko] 한국어 [pl] polski [pt-br] português [ru] русский [tr] Türkçe [uk] українська [zh-cn] 简体中文 [zh-tw] 繁體中文

“The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom. We defend the rights of all software users.” JOIN DONATE SHOP Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <gnu@gnu.org>. There are also other ways to contact the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent to <webmasters@gnu.org>. Please see the Translations README for information on coordinating and contributing translations of this article. Copyright © 2000, 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Copyright Infringement Notification Updated: $Date: 2022/01/02 16:26:32 $