Re: gEDA-user: Re: Comment on free technology please

[DJ Delorie <dj@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Bot does it mean that if I took Linux Kernel code and stripped all
> the comments (which I assume wouldn't have even a tiniest bit of
> influence on the functionality) that I would violate GPL?

The only comments you may not remove from the sources are the ones
that include the copyright information, since you're not permitted to
remove the copyright information.

If you wish to remove the comments, and use the result as your
preferred means of editing the sources, the GPL won't stop you.  What
it does prevent is stripping the comments for *only* the distributed
sources, as that means that the "sources" you are distributing are not
the "preferred form" (obviously, you prefer the form with comments ;).

I don't think this info helps with CAD files, though.

> Another question: where does the borderline between minimum doc
> required from the GPL and additional optional doc lie? Or how can I
> determine it?

The GPL does not require you to write documentation.  The GPL is only
concerned with people being able to take your existing sources, modify
them, and rebuild the end result.  To meet this goal, the *sources*
must be reasonably editable.  Ancillary documentation is not required,
unless of course *you* (the developer) also need such documentation to
edit your sources (in which case, you've chosen your source form
poorly ;).

That part of the GPL is designed to prevent this kind of scenario: A
developer has a set of sources, runs it through a preprocessor, and
then runs it through a filter which replaces meaningful names like
"schematic_flags" with machine generated meaningless names like
"var0567_b" in order to effectively prevent people from modifying the
code (by making it too difficult to be practical).  It also prevents
the developer from using a higher-level language (like the FSF's
"cgen") to machine-generate a C source file, then distribute only the
machine-generated C source file.

Documentation is normally licensed as a separate entity, either with
the GPL or the FDL.