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Date: Sat, 24 Jun 1995 13:03:16 +0200
From: Chris Rowley <C.A.Rowley@OPEN.AC.UK>
Sender: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <LATEX-L@VM.URZ.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE>
To: Multiple recipients of list LATEX-L <LATEX-L@VM.URZ.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE>
Subject: Re: LaTeX distribution and modification conditions
Status: R

Here are some comments on parts of modguide.tex that Richard Stallman
sent directly to us.
 
 
Chris Rowley      ---        On behalf of The LaTeX3 Project Team
 
==========================================================================
From: Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu>
 
It appears to me that you are trying to set up a system in which it is
impossible for anyone, anywhere, to have a nonstandard installation of
LaTeX in which certain standard names have nonstandard behavior.  Or
at least you are trying to stop anyone from distributing a package
that produces such a nonstandard installation.
 
This is impossible.  You cannot do it; the measures you have
adopted have simple enough loopholes which copyright cannot block.
 
For example:
 
    This feature would be totally worthless if we were to allow an
    alternative version of the array package to be distributed under the
    same name since it would mean that there would be in circulation files
    of a later date, but without the new feature.
 
You cannot forbid me from writing a new file and calling it array.sty
as long as it doesn't copy anything from LaTeX.
 
So I can make a file which I call array.sty and which includes
mumble.sty and then redefines certain things.  I can then release
thisfile with the following installation instructions:
 
    "Rename your file array.sty to mumble.sty, and install this file
as
    array.sty".
 
There is no way you can prohibit this.  It does not violate your
copyright.
 
The goal of forcing all installations of LaTeX to be standard is
unattainable--but if it were possible, it would be tyrannical.
 
Please stop trying to force everyone to obey a standard.  Standards
exist to give people who wish to be compatible a rendezvous point.
Most people will follow standards of their own free will, insofar as
they actually benefit from standardization.  And if you provide them
with assistance in ensuring their installations are standard, that is
fine.  But no one should be legally forced to follow a standard.
 
 
==========================================================================
From: Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu>
 
      We are therefore adopting a policy similar to that which Donald
      Knuth applies to modifications of the underlying \TeX{} system: that
      certain files, together with their names, are part of the system and
      therefore cannot be changed unless the following conditions are met:
      \begin{itemize}
      \item they are clearly marked as being no longer part of the
        standard system;
      \item the name of the file is changed.
      \end{itemize}
 
This comparison may be misleading.
 
As far as I know, most of TeX itself does not need to be *asked for by
name* by the users.  Users get plain TeX without asking for it.  When
users don't have to ask for a file by name, a requirement about the
name of that file has no functional effect; it does not cause a
problem.
 
The situation is different for LaTeX, which contains many files that
users ask for by name.  Many improvements that people might want to
make are simply impossible unless the name is unchanged.
 
When I looked at the TeX source, actual modification of the source
file of TeX was prohibited entirely.  But people could get the same
effect by writing a change file.  So this was a restriction on how to
write the changes, but not on what changes we could accomplish.