<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
<!-- Parent-Version: 1.77 1.96 -->
<!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html -->
<title>Why Publishers should Use the GNU FDL
- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
<!--#include virtual="/licenses/po/why-gfdl.translist" -->
<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
<div class="article reduced-width">
<h2>Why publishers should use the GNU FDL</h2>

<p>by

<address class="byline">by <a href="http://www.stallman.org/">Richard Stallman</a></p> href="https://www.stallman.org/">Richard
Stallman</a></address>

<p>
Can technical writers earn money by writing free documentation for
free software?  We seriously hope so, and that is the reason for
the GNU Free Documentation License.</p>
<p>
The GFDL is meant as a way to enlist commercial publishers in funding
free documentation without surrendering any vital liberty.  The
“cover text” feature, and certain other aspects of the
license that deal with covers, title page, history, and endorsements,
are included to make the license appealing to commercial publishers
for books whose authors are paid.  To improve the appeal, I consulted
specifically with staff of publishing companies, as well as lawyers,
free documentation writers, and the community at large, in writing the
GFDL.</p>
<p>
At least two commercial publishers of software manuals have told me
they are interested in using this license.  The future is never a sure
thing, but the GFDL looks like it has a good chance to succeed in
shaping a social system where commercial publishers pay people to
write commercial free manuals for free software.</p>
</div>

</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above -->
<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
<div id="footer"> id="footer" role="contentinfo">
<div class="unprintable">

<p>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>.</p>

<p><!-- 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 submitting contributing translations of
        our web pages, see <a
        href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
        README</a>. -->
Please see the <a
href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting contributing translations
of this article.</p>
</div>

<!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to
     files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should
     be under CC BY-ND 3.0 US. 4.0.  Please do NOT change or remove this
     without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first.
     Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the
     document.  For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the
     document was modified, or published.
     
     If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too.
     Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying
     years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable
     year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including
     being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system).
     
     There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers
     Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. -->

<p>Copyright © 2000, 2007, 2008, 2014 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p>

<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/">Creative
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative
Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p>

<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" -->

<p class="unprintable">Updated:
<!-- timestamp start -->
$Date: 2022/03/03 17:31:45 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include -->
</body>
</html>