taskSavannah Administration - Tasks: task #16540, Submission of Republishing Public...

 
 

task #16540: Submission of Republishing Public Domain Books with Lisp

Submitter:  Divya Ranjan <divya>
Submitted:  Wed 15 May 2024 05:01:19 AM UTC
   
 
Should Start On:  Wed 15 May 2024 12:00:00 AM UTC Should be Finished on:  Sat 25 May 2024 12:00:00 AM UTC
Category:  Project Approval Priority:  * 5 - Normal
Status:  Cancelled Privacy:  Public
Assigned to:  ineiev Open/Closed:  Closed
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Thu 20 Jun 2024 09:33:18 AM UTC, comment #5: 

No response; cancelling.

Ineiev <ineiev>
Site Administrator
Mon 03 Jun 2024 06:51:47 AM UTC, comment #4: 

If there is no further interest, I'll cancel this submission.

Ineiev <ineiev>
Site Administrator
Tue 21 May 2024 08:16:35 AM UTC, comment #3: 


> The thing is that this is not just fiction, this is a proper program that is programmed in a DSL (`#lang`) of Racket called Pollen[0]. If you were able to get the source code, check the `pollen.rkt` file. I shall be adding a few of those more, which would implement the typographical capacities of Pollen. So the goal is to use the power of free software, and especially the dialect of lisp in providing better typographical reproductions of classic literature. Does this help in giving a better idea of the project?


Yes, I hope so.

> The original work remains to be in the public domain, the changes that are re-licensed according to CC-BY-SA 4.0 are the typographical and design changes that were made in reproducing the copy/edition of the book(s). As the original content is in public domain, it is totally feasible to make changes to it and relicense those changes accordingly.


Yes, provided the changes are copyrightable; still don't you find it surprising when the copyright lines list persons who have little relation to the authors?

> Particularly, the things that will be under CC-BY-SA would be the design layout used in each format (PDF, EPUB, HTML/CSS) and the cover picture. I also intend to add a foreword and appendix to the book, so they shall also be under CC-BY-SA while the particular content of the book and its translation remain safely under Public Domain.


I see.  The foreword is likely to be copyrightable, other things may or may not.

> > I'm not sure if CC BY-SA 4.0 is technically incompatible with Savannah hosting
> > requirements in this case, but releasing a work under confusing terms isn't a
> > good practice.
> I am not sure which part of it is confusing,


You are going to release a work that is essentially in public domain under different terms.

> but would like further comment. As far as GNU's compatibility goes, the License Compatibility list from FSF[2] confirms that being  a copyleft license it is compatible with all versions of GPL as long as it is not used on software, which I assure you it is not.


I'm really puzzled how you could interpret the entry you referred to this way.  It clearly says CC BY-SA is incompatible with any GPL version but 3.

Ineiev <ineiev>
Site Administrator
Fri 17 May 2024 03:08:55 PM UTC, comment #2: 

Hello, Ineiev!

> The tarball URL you provided doesn't work for me


Indeed, I had problems uploading it through Savannah's temporary file sharing option. Try the link below, if it works:

https://drive.filen.io/d/cee7ab54-9704-4f5b-8573-2956f217e55f#M2hwHtpcSKrXaCFJKuugxSmp8Gw8gu82

If it doesn't work, try looking at the repository at GitHub which I plan to switch to here:

https://github.com/divyaranjan1905/gustave-dore-don-quixote

>  Savannah is a forge for software and documentation, fiction is out of its scope.

The thing is that this is not just fiction, this is a proper program that is programmed in a DSL (`#lang`) of Racket called Pollen[0]. If you were able to get the source code, check the `pollen.rkt` file. I shall be adding a few of those more, which would implement the typographical capacities of Pollen. So the goal is to use the power of free software, and especially the dialect of lisp in providing better typographical reproductions of classic literature. Does this help in giving a better idea of the project? You can also look at another[1] project which has already implemented this, if mine seems convoluted.

> Another general note is, the works in public domain are inherently
> unrestricted, so applying any license to them must be legally void.

The original work remains to be in the public domain, the changes that are re-licensed according to CC-BY-SA are the typographical and design changes that were made in reproducing the copy/edition of the book(s). As the original content is in public domain, it is totally feasible to make changes to it and relicense those changes accordingly.
Particularly, the things that will be under CC-BY-SA would be the design layout used in each format (PDF, EPUB, HTML/CSS) and the cover picture. I also intend to add a foreword and appendix to the book, so they shall also be under CC-BY-SA while the particular content of the book and its translation remain safely under Public Domain.

> I'm not sure if CC BY-SA 4.0 is technically incompatible with Savannah hosting
> requirements in this case, but releasing a work under confusing terms isn't a
> good practice.

I am not sure which part of it is confusing, but would like further comment. As far as GNU's compatibility goes, the License Compatibility list from FSF[2] confirms that being  a copyleft license it is compatible with all versions of GPL as long as it is not used on software, which I assure you it is not. For all the Racket or Lisp code I use GPLv3 or above.

If there still remain any confusions, I'm glad to clarify.

Regards,

--
Divya Ranjan,

Mathematics, Philosophy and Libre Software.

[0]: https://docs.racket-lang.org/pollen/
[1]: https://git.matthewbutterick.com/mbutterick/pollen-tfl
[2]: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#ccbysa

Divya Ranjan <divya>
Wed 15 May 2024 03:45:30 PM UTC, comment #1: 

The tarball URL you provided doesn't work for me, so I only can see the text of your submission; generally, Savannah is a forge for software and documentation, fiction is out of its scope.

Another general note is, the works in public domain are inherently unrestricted, so applying any license to them must be legally void.  I'm not sure if CC BY-SA 4.0 is technically incompatible with Savannah hosting requirements in this case, but releasing a work under confusing terms isn't a good practice.

Ineiev <ineiev>
Site Administrator
Wed 15 May 2024 05:01:19 AM UTC, original submission:  

A new group has been registered at Savannah.
This group will remain inactive until a site admin approves
or discards the registration.


Registration Administration


Approving or discarding the registration must be done using the specific
Group administration page, accessible only to site
administrators logged in as superusers.

Registration Details


  • Name: Republishing Public Domain Books with Lisp
  • System Name:  bibliotheca
  • Type: non-GNU software and documentation
  • License: GNU General Public License v3 or later (The code of the package itself is licensed under GPLv3 or later, but the original copies of the books used are used with CC0 license. Similarly, the fonts used for the websites and the books are open fonts under OFL.


The reproduced books that will be available as ebooks and in print, shall be licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 or above, ensuring that they do not get restricted again by malicious entities.)




Description:

The project uses the Pollen language, which is derived from Racket, to programmatically reproduce classic works of literature, philosophy in various formats including as a web-book, an EPUB3, and a printable PDF.

The books to be chosen are going to be in the public domain, freely available on the internet already and can be reproduced within the law.

The cross-platform reach is accessible precisely because of the choice of Racket, a dialect of Scheme. Pollen introduces X-expressions, a fundamental data structure that covers the entirety of the program, and eventually the entire book. Because the entire book is just a variant of s-expression, one can extend it just using lisp.


Other Software Required:

Language Dependencies

Racket: v8.12 or above
License: Apache License, version 2.0
Link: https://download.racket-lang.org/

Pollen: 3.2.3877.60 or above
License: Expat License (also misleadingly attributed as MIT License)
Link: https://git.matthewbutterick.com/mbutterick/pollen/

tufte-css
License: Expat License (also misleadingly attributed as MIT License)
Link: https://github.com/edwardtufte/tufte-css

Fonts

ETBook
License: Expat License (also misleadingly attributed as MIT License)
Link: https://github.com/edwardtufte/et-book

Cardo
License: SIL Open Font License, version 1.1
Link: https://scholarsfonts.net/cardofnt.html

Charter
License: Bitstream Copyright, used by X11
Link: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/font/bitstream-type1

Garamond-Libre
License: Daniel Benjamin Miller, no restrictions on copying, modifying, publishing and selling
Link: https://github.com/dbenjaminmiller/garamond-libre

Utopia
License: Freely sublicensed by TUG (TeX users Group) from Adobe
Link: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Utopia

Books
Only one book has been used as of now, all of them shall have CC0 or similar copyleft licenses.

Don Quixote by Cervantes:
Link: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/996

Images
The images for the books are also derived from CC0 and public domain sources, same as the books themselves.



Other Comments:

The cover of all the books, whether renewed or entirely replaced by a new one, shall be also licensed under copyleft CC-BY-SA 4.0 or above.


Tarball URL:

https://my.opendesktop.org/s/7Qx7F2jQxLnMFeF


Divya Ranjan <divya>

 

(Note: upload size limit is set to 16384 kB, after insertion of the required escape characters.)

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    Date Changed by Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced by
    2024-06-20 ineiev StatusIn Progress Cancelled
        Open/ClosedOpen Closed
    2024-05-15 ineiev StatusNone In Progress
        Assigned toNone ineiev

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