I have a work that may be considered a derived work from a GPL'd work and would find it difficult to release the complete source for technical reasons. Is it permissible for me to distribute the documentation for this work by itself without any source code or binaries? Context is that I'd like to provide a technical writing sample on job applications or relate the experience I gained from developing the project in the case that I cannot release the code.
+1
A:
Is documentation for a GPL-derived work covered by the GPL?
No. GPL applies primarily to software source code, not to the documentation. But you can use the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) for that. In either case, I think your desire to have a technical writing sample would fall under fair use regardless of almost any mainstream license you picked.
John Feminella
2009-06-14 04:08:02
-1 you must check the license of documentation itself. The documentation may be released with the same license as the source or with any other different license.
Artyom
2009-06-14 04:30:43
@Artyom » I think either you or I have mis[understood|read] the question. My reading is that he controls the derived work and therefore the docs. The additional documentation for the derived work is not necessarily under GPL, even if the entirety of the original work is under GPL. (In much the same way, making a logo for the derived work doesn't automatically make the logo GPL either.) It boils down to whether or not you think the documentation should be considered a separate work. Probably a question for a lawyer.
John Feminella
2009-06-14 05:07:52
The Documentation about which I speak was completely written by me in LaTeX format. I am not talking about documentation released with the GPL'd work.
2009-06-14 22:47:09
A:
To be covered by the GPL, source files (as well as binary outputs) must contain a copy of the GPL, or reference a license.txt which contains the GPL in a preamble section. Though uncommon, it is not unknown for many, even closely related source files within a single project to follow different (though hopefully compatible) licenses in this manner.
More info on using the gpl at the gnu website
TokenMacGuy
2009-06-14 04:24:35
A:
You should check the license of the documentation it may differ from the license of the software itself.
If the license is not specified, and the GPL covers all the project, thus the documentation may be as well subject to GPL.
(I'm not a lawer, so no guaranees on what I suggest)
Artyom
2009-06-14 04:33:30