Differences between the WDL and the GNU FDL ------------------------------------------- The WDL does not contain a Preamble. The FDL's Preamble is not actually part of the License, so that should not matter. In section 1, the applicability paragraph, and the definitions for a "Modified Version," a "Secondary Section," the "Cover Texts", the "Title Page", a 'Section "Entitled XYZ"', and the statement about warranty disclaimers have been taken unmodified from the FDL. The definition for an "Invariant Section" has been dropped, as the WDL does not know that concept. Rather, a definition for an "Opiniated Section" has been introduced, which is similar, but not equal, to an Invariant Section. The way an Opiniated Section is marked is also different from that of an Invariant Section. The definition for a "Transparent Format" has been altered. The definition as specified in the FDL requires a Transparent Format to be editable by a normal text editor, or by an existing implementation of Free Software. I find this requirement flawed; it is not because a Free (as in speech) implementation of a standard is not available, that it is not possible to implement such a Free implementation. In the case a certain format becomes popular, a Free implementation will probably be implemented, which would make the fact that it is not available at the time the document is modified or published not as problematic. I have replaced the FDL's definition of a "Transparent" format by the definition as crafted by the group behind "openstandaarden.be", of which I am a member, with one additional requirement (that the format be an editable format, rather than an output format). It must be noted, however, that that definition was written in Dutch, and that I am not entirely satisfied with the translation as I wrote it. I also slightly modified the Examples of "Opaque" and "Transparent" formats, since my definition renders some of the deemed "Opaque" examples "Transparent", and vice versa. Section 2 of the WDL is identical to section 2 of the FDL, except for the last sentence, which has been dropped. This sentence refers to making a large number of copies, for which the WDL does not contain extra requirements. Section 3 of the FDL regulates making a large quantity of copies. I find this a flawed way of handling the issue of someone creating a book out of a document, as it puts certain restrictions on people doing other things with it; it does, for instance, not allow one to synthesize a manual into a Quick Reference card. As such, I rewrote that section so that a Title Page or a cover is not required, however, if someone chooses to print a version of the Document with a cover and/or Title Page (something more commonly known as "a book"), they must use the Title Page and cover texts as specified in the Document. This retains the spirit of the cover texts and title pages from the FDL, without the inconveniences. Two additional parts have been added: * The WDL must be distributed along with all copies of the Document. Since the FDL requires the text of the license to be on the Title Page(s), and one may not omit a title page, such a requirement is not in the text of the FDL. In contrast, the WDL allows to omit the Title Page completely, so if people choose to excercise that right, they still need to distribute the WDL along with it. * In case you distribute an Opaque version, you're allowed to point to some existing network location, provided you can assume that location will be there for a while after you distribute the last Opaque copy. This is required because I dropped the "more than 100" requirement from section 3; in the FDL, the requirements of section 3 do not apply to someone printing out a copy and giving it to a friend; in the WDL, it does, and it is not my intention of requiring people to have a website, or something similar, to be able to print out a copy and give it to a friend. Section 4 is almost completely unaltered. Exceptions are: Section 4G of the FDL requires you to include the titles of Invariant Sections in the license notice. Since the WDL does not know the concept of Invariant Sections, this requirement has been dropped. Section 4K has been modified to allow separating Acknowledgements and Dedications from the original document (but they must still be distributed along with the Document). Section 4L has seen "s/Invariant/Opiniated", and a phrase was added to allow for modification or removal of Opiniated Sections under the condition of the added section 10. The reference to Invariant Sections in Section 4N has been dropped. In Section 4O, I have added the possibility to drop any Warranty Disclaimers provided warranty is provided by a publisher. The next paragraph has been updated to allow people to add Opiniated Sections, rather than Invariant Sections, with the procedure for doing so updated as well. The rest of section 4 is copied, unaltered, from the FDL. Section 5 has been updated to refer to Opiniated Sections, rather than Invariant Sections, and the requirement wrt the Title Page has been dropped. The "History" paragraph is unaltered. Section 6 and 7 have been copied unaltered from the FDL. Section 8 has been updated to allow for the translation of Opiniated Sections. The FDL forbids any modification of Invariant Sections, and since this forbids translations as well, it allows the translation of Invariant Sections as long as the original Invariant Section is also distributed. Since the WDL does not forbid modification, that passage has been removed. Section 9 has been copied unaltered from the FDL. The original section 10 from the FDL has been removed. I am not the FSF, so it does not apply to me. Section 10 of the WDL is a new section, which cannot be found in the FDL. It handles the conditions for modifying or removing an Opiniated Section. The Addendum has been updated to reflect the name and procedures for applying the WDL, rather than the FDL. Although it is not part of the License, and it is IMHO not really required, the License text refers to it at one point, so it must be included for the License to be internally consistent. I have also removed the recommendation to the GPL, and the phrasing "Or any later version".