# LANGUAGE translation of https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/netscape-npl.html # Copyright (C) YEAR Free Software Foundation, Inc. # This file is distributed under the same license as the original article. # FIRST AUTHOR , YEAR. # #, fuzzy msgid "" msgstr "" "Project-Id-Version: netscape-npl.html\n" "POT-Creation-Date: 2021-09-05 09:56+0000\n" "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n" "Last-Translator: FULL NAME \n" "Language-Team: LANGUAGE \n" "Language: \n" "MIME-Version: 1.0\n" "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=CHARSET\n" "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n" #. type: Content of: msgid "On the Netscape Public License - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h2> msgid "On the Netscape Public License" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><address> msgid "by <a href=\"https://www.stallman.org/\">Richard Stallman</a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "The <a href=\"/philosophy/netscape-npl-old.html\"> original version</a> of " "this article was written in March 1998 about a draft of the NPL. Our first " "article on the subject was <a href=\"/philosophy/netscape.html\">Netscape is " "considering making the Netscape browser free software</a>." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The Netscape Public License, or NPL, as it was ultimately designed in 1998, " "is a free software license—but it has three major flaws. One flaw " "sends a bad philosophical message, another puts the free software community " "in a weak position, while the third creates a major practical problem within " "the free software community. Two of the flaws apply to the Mozilla Public " "License as well. Because of these flaws, we urge that you not use the NPL " "or the MPL for your free software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "1. Not all users are equal" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The first problem I noticed in the NPL was that it does not give Netscape " "and the rest of us equal rights, as the GNU GPL does. Under the NPL, we can " "use Netscape's code only as specified in the NPL, but Netscape can use our " "changes in any way at all—even in proprietary licensed versions of the " "software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The problem here is subtle, because this does not make the program nonfree. " "It does not stop us from redistributing the program, or from changing it; it " "does not deny us any particular freedom. Considered from a purely pragmatic " "viewpoint, it may not look like a problem at all." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The problem lies in the deeper message embodied in this condition. It " "denies the idea of cooperation among equals that our community rests on, and " "says that working on a free program means contributing to a proprietary " "software product. Those who accept this condition are likely to be changed " "by it, and the change will not strengthen our community." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "One proposed solution for this asymmetry is to put a time limit on " "it—perhaps three or five years. That would be a big improvement, " "because the time limit would deny the problematical deeper message." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The practical effects of this condition are minimized by another drawback of " "the NPL: it is not designed as a thorough copyleft. In other words, it does " "not try very hard to ensure that modifications made by users are available " "as free software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The MPL (Mozilla Public License) does <em>not</em> have this problem. That " "is the principal difference between the MPL and the NPL." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "2. Not a copyleft" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The NPL has the form of a copyleft; it explicitly says that all " "modifications made by users must be released under the NPL. But this " "applies only to modifications to the existing code—not to added " "subroutines, if they are put in separate files. As a practical matter, this " "means it is easy to make proprietary changes if you want to: just put the " "bulk of your code into a separate file, and call the collection a Larger " "Work. Only the subroutine calls added to the old files will have to be " "released under the NPL, and they will not be very useful on their own." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The lack of real copyleft is not a catastrophe; it does not make the " "software nonfree. For example, the X.org distribution terms do not try to " "use copyleft at all, yet X.org is free software nonetheless. BSD is also " "non-copylefted free software (although the older BSD terms have a <a " "href=\"/licenses/bsd.html\">serious drawback</a> and should not be " "imitated—if you want to release non-copylefted free software, please " "use the X.org terms instead). NPL-covered software is also <a " "href=\"/philosophy/categories.html\">free software</a> without being " "copylefted, and this by itself does not make the NPL worse than other " "non-copyleft free software license." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "However, while this is not catastrophic, it is nonetheless a drawback. And " "because the NPL looks like a copyleft, some users may be confused about it, " "and might adopt the NPL, thinking that they are obtaining the benefits of " "copyleft for their software, when that is not the case. To avoid this " "outcome, we will need to work hard to educate people about an issue that is " "not easy to explain in a few words." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "3. Not compatible with the GPL" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The most serious practical problem in the NPL is that it is incompatible " "with the GNU GPL. It is impossible to combine NPL-covered code and GNU " "GPL-covered code together in one program, not even by linking separate " "object files or libraries; no matter how this is done, it has to violate one " "license or the other." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This conflict occurs because the GPL is serious about copyleft: it was " "designed to ensure that all changes and extensions to a free program must be " "free. So it does not leave a loophole for making changes proprietary by " "putting them into a separate file. To close this loophole, the GPL does not " "allow linking the copylefted program with code that has other restrictions " "or conditions—such as the NPL." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Being incompatible with the GPL does not make a program nonfree; it does not " "raise a fundamental ethical issue. But it is likely to create a serious " "problem for the free software community, dividing the code base into two " "collections that cannot be mixed. As a practical matter, this problem is " "very important." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Solving this by changing the GPL is possible, but that would entail " "abandoning copyleft—which would do more harm than good. But it is " "possible to solve this problem with a small change in the NPL. (See below " "for a specific way of doing this.)" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "4. A note about names" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "NPL stands for Netscape Public License, but GPL does not stand for GNU " "Public License. The full name of our license is the GNU General Public " "License, abbreviated GNU GPL. Sometimes people leave out the word " "“GNU” and write just GPL." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "(This is not a problem, just a fact that you should know.)" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Conclusion" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Since problem 3 is the most serious, I hope that people will politely and " "rationally explain to Netscape the importance of solving it. Solutions are " "available; they just have to decide to use them." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Here is a possible way to permit linking NPL-covered code and GPL-covered " "code together. It can be done by adding these two paragraphs to the NPL:" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><pre> #, no-wrap msgid "" "A.1. You may distribute a Covered Work under the terms of the GNU\n" " General Public License, version 2 or newer, as published by the\n" " Free Software Foundation, when it is included in a Larger Work\n" " which is as a whole distributed under the terms of the same\n" " version of the GNU General Public License.\n" "\n" "A.2. If you have received a copy of a Larger Work under the terms of a\n" " version or a choice of versions of the GNU General Public\n" " License, and you make modifications to some NPL-covered portions\n" " of this Larger Work, you have the option of altering these\n" " portions to say that their distribution terms are that version or\n" " that choice of versions of GNU General Public License.\n" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This allows people to combine NPL-covered code with GPL-covered code, and to " "distribute the combined work under the terms of the GNU GPL." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It permits people to release modifications to such combined works under the " "terms of the GNU GPL—but the easiest way to release them is under the " "NPL." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "When people take advantage of A.2, their changes will be released only under " "the terms of the GNU GPL; so these changes would not be available for " "Netscape to use in proprietary versions. It makes sense that Netscape would " "see this as unfortunate." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "However, the NPL gives proprietary software developers an easy way to make " "their changes entirely unavailable to Netscape—by putting their code " "into separate files and calling the combination a Larger Work. In fact, " "this is easier, for them, than A.2 is for GPL users." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "If Netscape feels it can live with the trouble of (effectively) proprietary " "modifications, surely the trouble of GPL-covered modifications is small by " "comparison. If Netscape believes that practical considerations will " "encourage most of the proprietary software world to release its changes back " "to Netscape, without being compelled to, the same reasons ought to apply in " "the free software world as well. Netscape should recognize that this change " "is acceptable, and adopt it, to avoid confronting free software developers " "with a serious dilemma." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't have notes. #. type: Content of: <div> msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S NOTES*" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a " "href=\"mailto:gnu@gnu.org\"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. There are also <a " "href=\"/contact/\">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. Broken links and " "other corrections or suggestions can be sent to <a " "href=\"mailto:webmasters@gnu.org\"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, #. replace it with the translation of these two: # #. We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality #. translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. #. Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard #. to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> # #. <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> # #. <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of #. our web pages, see <a #. href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations #. README</a>. #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Please see the <a " "href=\"/server/standards/README.translations.html\">Translations README</a> " "for information on coordinating and contributing translations of this " "article." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This page is licensed under a <a rel=\"license\" " "href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons " "Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't want credits. #. type: Content of: <div><div> msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S CREDITS*" msgstr "" #. timestamp start #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Updated:" msgstr ""