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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <html lang="en"><head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("http://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.wikipedia.org:80/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License","20030801160830","http://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1059754110"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <title>GNU Free Documentation License - Wikipedia</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta name="robots" content="index,follow"> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/web/20030801160830im_/http://www.wikipedia.org/favicon.ico"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/web/20030801160830cs_/http://www.wikipedia.org/style/wikistandard.css"> <script type="text/javascript" src="/web/20030801160830js_/http://www.wikipedia.org/style/wikibits.js"></script> <style type="text/css"></style> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <div id="content"> <div id="topbar"><table width="98%" border="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td width="152" rowspan="2"> </td><td align="left" valign="top"><a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page" class="internal" title="Main Page">Main Page</a> | <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Recentchanges" class="internal" title="Special:Recentchanges">Recent changes</a> | <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=GNU_Free_Documentation_License&action=edit" class="internal" title="GNU Free Documentation License">Edit this page</a> | <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=GNU_Free_Documentation_License&action=history" class="internal" title="GNU Free Documentation License">Page history</a><p class="subtitle"><a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=GNU_Free_Documentation_License&printable=yes" class="internal" title="GNU Free Documentation License">Printable version</a></td> <td valign="top" align="right" nowrap>Not logged in <br><a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Userlogin&returnto=GNU_Free_Documentation_License" class="internal" title="Special:Userlogin">Log in</a> | <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Help" class="internal" title="Wikipedia:Help">Help</a> <br><form name="search" class="inline" method="get" action="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml"><input type="text" name="search" size="19" value=""> <input type="submit" name="go" value="Go"> </form></td></tr> <tr><td class="top" colspan="2">Other languages: <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://ca.wikipedia.com/wiki.cgi?GNU_Free_Documentation_License" class="external" title="ca:GNU Free Documentation License">Català</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Freie_Dokumentationslizenz" class="external" title="de:GNU Freie Dokumentationslizenz">Deutsch</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License" class="external" title="da:GNU Free Documentation License">Dansk</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/GFDL" class="external" title="eo:GFDL">Esperanto</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licencia_de_Documentaci%F3n_Libre_GNU" class="external" title="es:Licencia de Documentaci髇 Libre GNU">Español</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://it.wikipedia.com/wiki.cgi?GNU_Free_Documentation_License" class="external" title="it:GNU Free Documentation License">Italiano</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU/FDL" class="external" title="nl:GNU/FDL">Nederlands</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_FDL" class="external" title="ja:GNU FDL">日本語 (Nihongo)</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License" class="external" title="pl:GNU Free Documentation License">Polski</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licence_de_documentation_libre_GNU" class="external" title="fr:Licence de documentation libre GNU">Français</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU%E8%87%AA%E7%94%B1%E6%96%87%E6%A1%A3%E5%8D%8F%E8%AE%AE%E8%AF%81%E4%B9%A6" class="external" title="zh:GNU">中文 (Zhongwen)</a></td></tr></table> </div> <div id="article"><h1 class="pagetitle">GNU Free Documentation License</h1><p class="subtitle">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. <p><a name="top"></a> <p> The <strong>GNU Free Documentation License</strong> (GFDL) is a <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft" class="internal" title="Copyleft">copyleft</a> license for <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_content" class="internal" title="Free content">free content</a>, designed by the <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Software_Foundation" class="internal" title="Free Software Foundation">Free Software Foundation</a> (FSF) for the <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU" class="internal" title="GNU">GNU</a> project. The official text of version 1.2 of the license text can be found at <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html" class="external" title="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html">http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html</a>. <p> The license is designed for software documentation and other reference and instructional materials. It stipulates that any copy of the material, even if modified, carry the same license. Those copies may be sold but, if produced in quantity, have to be made available in a format which facilitates further editing. <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia" class="internal" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> is the largest documentation project to use this license. <p> <p><table border="0" id="toc"><tr><td align="center"> <b>Table of contents</b> <script type="text/javascript">showTocToggle("show","hide")</script></td></tr><tr id="tocinside"><td align="left"> <div style="margin-bottom:0px;"> <a class="internal" href="#Secondary_Sections">1 Secondary Sections </a><br> </div> <div style="margin-bottom:0px;"> <a class="internal" href="#Using_the_GFDL">2 Using the GFDL </a><br> </div> <div style="margin-bottom:0px;"> <a class="internal" href="#Wikipedia_and_GFDL">3 Wikipedia and GFDL </a><br> </div> <div style="margin-bottom:0px;"> <a class="internal" href="#Related_articles">4 Related articles </a><br> </div> <div style="margin-left:2em;"> <a class="internal" href="#External_Links">4.1 External Links </a><br> </div> </td></tr></table><p> <h2><a name="Secondary_Sections"> Secondary Sections </a></h2> <p> The license explicitly separates the "<a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License/Document" class="internal" title="GNU Free Documentation License/Document">Document</a>" from "<a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License/Secondary_Sections" class="internal" title="GNU Free Documentation License/Secondary Sections">Secondary Sections</a>", which may not be integrated with the Document, but exist as front-matter materials or appendices. Secondary sections can contain information regarding the author's or publisher's relationship to the subject matter, but not any subject matter itself. While the Document itself is wholly editable, and is essentially covered by a license equivalent to the <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License" class="internal" title="GNU General Public License">GNU General Public License</a>, some of the secondary sections have various restrictions designed primarily to deal with proper attribution to previous authors. <p> Specifically, the authors of prior versions have to be acknowledged and certain "invariant sections" specified by the original author and dealing with his or her relationship to the subject matter may not be changed. If the material is modified, its title has to be changed (unless the prior authors give permission to retain the title). The license also has provisions for the handling of <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License/Cover_Texts" class="internal" title="GNU Free Documentation License/Cover Texts">front-cover and back-cover texts</a> of books, as well as for "History", "Acknowledgements", "Dedications" and "Endorsements" sections. <p> <h2><a name="Using_the_GFDL"> Using the GFDL </a></h2> <p> For a document to be covered by the GFDL, one must include a <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License/Copyright_and_license_notice" class="internal" title="GNU Free Documentation License/Copyright and license notice">specific copyright and license notice</a>. <p> <h2><a name="Wikipedia_and_GFDL"> Wikipedia and GFDL </a></h2> <p> All Wikipedia articles are licensed to the public under the GNU Free Documentation License. See <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights" class="internal" title="Wikipedia:Copyrights">Wikipedia:Copyrights</a> for the details. The local copy of the license, as required by the terms of the GFDL, is at <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License" class="internal" title="Wikipedia:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License">Wikipedia:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License</a>. <p> <h2><a name="Related_articles"> Related articles </a></h2> <p> <ul><li> <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright" class="internal" title="Copyright">Copyright</a> </li><li> <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft" class="internal" title="Copyleft">Copyleft</a> </li><li> <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software_license" class="internal" title="Free software license">Free software license</a> </li><li> <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU" class="internal" title="GNU">GNU</a> </li><li> <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_content" class="internal" title="Open content">Open content</a> </li><li> <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Content_License" class="internal" title="Open Content License">Open Content License</a> </li><li> <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_hardware" class="internal" title="Open hardware">Open hardware</a> </li><li> <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_machine" class="internal" title="Free machine">Free machine</a> </li></ul><p> <h3><a name="External_Links"> External Links </a></h3> <p> Here are some resources that are released under the GFDL: <p> <ul><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/" class="external" title="http://www.wikipedia.org">http://www.wikipedia.org</a> </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://www.asiaosc.org/enwiki/" class="external" title="http://www.asiaosc.org/enwiki/">http://www.asiaosc.org/enwiki/</a> - Parts of the <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Open_Source_Centre" class="internal" title="Asian Open Source Centre">Asian Open Source Centre</a> </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://www.capitancook.com/" class="external" title="http://www.capitancook.com/">http://www.capitancook.com/</a> - an open content travel guide. See <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/CapitanCook" class="internal" title="CapitanCook"> wikipedia article</a>. </li></ul><p> Here are resources discussing the appropriateness of the GFDL: <p> <ul><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://home.twcny.rr.com/nerode/neroden/fdl.html" class="external" title="http://home.twcny.rr.com/nerode/neroden/fdl.html">http://home.twcny.rr.com/nerode/neroden/fdl.html</a> - essay "Why You Shouldn't Use the GNU FDL" </li></ul><p> </div><br clear="all"> <div id="footer"><table width="98%" border="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td width="152" rowspan="1"> </td><td class="bottom" align="left" valign="top"><strong><a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=GNU_Free_Documentation_License&action=edit" class="internal" title="GNU Free Documentation License">Edit this page</a></strong> | <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:GNU_Free_Documentation_License" class="internal" title="Talk:GNU Free Documentation License">Discuss this page</a> | <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=GNU_Free_Documentation_License&action=history" class="internal" title="GNU Free Documentation License">Page history</a> | <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Whatlinkshere&target=GNU_Free_Documentation_License" class="internal" title="Special:Whatlinkshere">What links here</a> | <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Recentchangeslinked&target=GNU_Free_Documentation_License" class="internal" title="Special:Recentchangeslinked">Related changes</a><br> Other languages: <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://ca.wikipedia.com/wiki.cgi?GNU_Free_Documentation_License" class="external" title="ca:GNU Free Documentation License">Català</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Freie_Dokumentationslizenz" class="external" title="de:GNU Freie Dokumentationslizenz">Deutsch</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License" class="external" title="da:GNU Free Documentation License">Dansk</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/GFDL" class="external" title="eo:GFDL">Esperanto</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licencia_de_Documentaci%F3n_Libre_GNU" class="external" title="es:Licencia de Documentaci髇 Libre GNU">Español</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://it.wikipedia.com/wiki.cgi?GNU_Free_Documentation_License" class="external" title="it:GNU Free Documentation License">Italiano</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU/FDL" class="external" title="nl:GNU/FDL">Nederlands</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_FDL" class="external" title="ja:GNU FDL">日本語 (Nihongo)</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License" class="external" title="pl:GNU Free Documentation License">Polski</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licence_de_documentation_libre_GNU" class="external" title="fr:Licence de documentation libre GNU">Français</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030801160830/http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU%E8%87%AA%E7%94%B1%E6%96%87%E6%A1%A3%E5%8D%8F%E8%AE%AE%E8%AF%81%E4%B9%A6" class="external" title="zh:GNU">中文 (Zhongwen)</a> <br><a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page" class="internal" title="Main Page">Main Page</a> | <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About" class="internal" title="Wikipedia:About">About Wikipedia</a> | <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Recentchanges" class="internal" title="Special:Recentchanges">Recent changes</a> | <form name="search" class="inline" method="get" action="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml"><input type="text" name="search" size="19" value=""> <input type="submit" name="go" value="Go"> </form><br><span id="pagestats"> This page was last modified 23:18, 11 Jul 2003. All text is available under the terms of the <a class="internal" href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_FDL">GNU Free Documentation License</a>.</span></td></tr></table> </div> </div> <div id="quickbar"> <a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page"><img border="0" src="/web/20030801160830im_/http://www.wikipedia.org/upload/wiki.png" alt="[Main Page]"></a> <hr class="sep"><a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page" class="internal" title="Main Page">Main Page</a> <br><a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Recentchanges" class="internal" title="Special:Recentchanges">Recent changes</a> <br><a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Randompage" class="internal" title="Special:Randompage">Random page</a> <br><a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_events" class="internal" title="Current events">Current events</a> <br><hr class="sep"><strong><a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=GNU_Free_Documentation_License&action=edit" class="internal" title="GNU Free Documentation License">Edit this page</a></strong> <br><a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:GNU_Free_Documentation_License" class="internal" title="Talk:GNU Free Documentation License">Discuss this page</a> <br><a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=GNU_Free_Documentation_License&action=history" class="internal" title="GNU Free Documentation License">Page history</a> <br><a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Whatlinkshere&target=GNU_Free_Documentation_License" class="internal" title="Special:Whatlinkshere">What links here</a> <br><a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Recentchangeslinked&target=GNU_Free_Documentation_License" class="internal" title="Special:Recentchangeslinked">Related changes</a> <br><hr class="sep"><a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Specialpages" class="internal" title="Special:Specialpages">Special pages</a> <br><a href="/web/20030801160830/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Bug_reports" class="internal" title="Wikipedia:Bug reports">Bug reports</a> <br></div>  </body> </html>