Public Documentation License

22 Feb. 2005 - Document version 1.0

Table of Contents

Introduction
Public Documentation License, version 1.0

Introduction

Note

This introduction is not part of the license itself.

The Public Documentation License (PDL) applies to all documentation authored by the Firebird Documentation Team. Older documentation and third-party contributions may be governed by other licenses.

The PDL was developed by Sun for use by the OpenOffice docwriters. It defines the same rights and restrictions as the Mozilla Public License (MPL) but whereas the latter is concerned with computer code, the PDL was designed specifically as a documentation license. The MPL-likeness is a great plus, because the licenses that apply to the Firebird engine code (IPL and IDPL) are both MPL-derivatives. As a result, you can use our PDL-licensed documentation under the same terms as the Firebird source code.

To give you a quick idea of what the PDL is all about, here is a short overview of the rights granted and requirements imposed by the PDL:

Free use: everyone may use and distribute PDL-licensed works, for free or for money, as long as the license notice is kept intact.
Right to modify: everyone may modify and redistribute PDL-licensed works, as long as any modified versions are PDL-licensed too, the original license notice is kept intact, and the modifications are documented.
Larger works: everyone may incorporate PDL-licensed documentation in a larger work. The larger work as a whole need not be released under the PDL, but the license requirements must be fulfilled for the PDL-licensed parts.

Please be advised that this overview is for informational purposes only and has no legal status whatsoever. Only the license text itself - following hereafter - is legally binding.