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Date: Sat, 24 Jun 1995 13:08:53 +0200
From: Chris Rowley <C.A.Rowley@OPEN.AC.UK>
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Subject: Re: LaTeX distribution and modification conditions
Status: R

A case study!
 
 
Chris Rowley      ---        On behalf of The LaTeX3 Project Team
 
==========================================================================
From: Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu>
 
To make a clear and unambiguous answer possible, I propose a specific
hypothetical scenario, by stating the specs of a change that ought to
be extremely simple, technically.  I'd like to ask the LaTeX
developers, and more generally the people who believe that LaTeX under
these terms is free software, what method they recommend for making
this change and distributing a LaTeX modified in this way.
 
Here is the specification for this hypothetically-desired change:
 
    To modify LaTeX so that any file which uses article.sty is printed
    with 2mm extra space between lines and 5mm extra space between
    paragraphs.
 
    This should work automatically: it should not require any manual
    alteration in the individual files that are printed.  Simply printing
    any file that uses article.sty should get the extra whitespace, with
    no other action by the user.
 
What method do you recommend for making and distributing this change?
 
 
Now let us suppose that after two years, a majority of the user public
prefers this change.  Organizations such as the Free Software
Foundation would find it useful to distribute LaTeX with the change
included, so that users would get what they (probably) prefer without
having to do complex things at installation time.  But let's suppose
that the LaTeX maintainers stubbornly refuse to change their version.
 
How do you recommend we distribute the improved LaTeX while following
the current distribution conditions?
 
 
This scenario is hypothetical.  I do not actually want to make this
change; judged as a change in LaTeX, I would consider it a bad one.
But as a probe for the issue at hand, it is good enough.
 
"Free software" refers to three kinds of freedom.  One of them is the
freedom to make improvements and distribute improved versions.  A
complex way may be feasible; but if there is no feasible way to
distribute a LaTeX with this modification, then LaTeX is not free
software.