[Foundation-l] GFDL 1.3 Release
All - As has been pointed out, the Free Software Foundation has now released version 1.3 of the GNU Free Documentation License, which is the standard text license used by all Wikimedia Foundation projects with the exception of Wikinews. The updated license text can be found here: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html [If you are still seeing version 1.2 on that URL, you may need to clear your browser cache.] We are very grateful to the Free Software Foundation for working with us to develop this re-licensing language. The only change is the addition of section 11, "Relicensing". This section permits "massive multi-author collaboration websites" (i.e. wikis and wiki-like websites) to relicense GFDL content to the CC-BY-SA, under two key constraints: * Newly added externally originating GFDL content cannot be relicensed after November 1, 2008. (In other words, we should stop importing GFDL content from non-Wikimedia sources, unless they plan to switch as well. I believe Wikia is planning to switch, but will confirm that shortly. Please feel free to begin reaching out to other relevant GFDL sources.) * The relicensing clause will expire on August 1, 2009. Relicensing can only be done by the operator of such a website, not by any other party. So the Wikimedia Foundation can choose to re-license Wikipedia, Wikibooks, etc., but no other party can. We will be able to do so because most GFDL-licensed content implicitly or explicitly permits re-use under "any later version" of the GFDL. == Why wasn't this license available for review earlier? == The restriction on externally originating FDL content is intended to prevent bulk-import and bulk-relicensing of FDL content from external sources. This is intended to protect the autonomy of site operators in making a re-licensing decision, and to prevent FDL-licensed software documentation from being re-licensed without the permission of the authors. This was a key condition for the Free Software Foundation to agree to this change. While an earlier draft was published, the specifics of the migration process have been negotiated privately in order to not allow for such systematic bulk-relicensing by interested third parties. == What's next? == * Later this month, we will post a re-licensing proposal for all Wikimedia wikis which are currently licensed under the GFDL. It will be collaboratively developed on meta.wiki and I will announce it here. This re-licensing proposal will include a simplified dual-licensing proposition, under which content will continue to be indefinitely available under GFDL, except for articles which include CC-BY-SA-only additions from external sources. (The terms of service, under this proposal, will be modified to require dual-licensing permission for any new changes.) It will be the obligation of re-users to validate whether an article includes CC-BY-SA-only changes -- dual licensing should not be a burden on editors. This is also not intended to be bidirectional, i.e., merging in GFDL-only text will not be possible. We _will_ propose to continue to permit GFDL 1.2-only media uploads for the forseeable future, to address concerns regarding strong and weak copyleft, until such concerns are fully resolved to the satisfaction of community members. However, GFDL 1.2-or-later media are expected to be migrated to CC-BY-SA under this proposal. It is expected that we will launch a community-wide referendum on this proposal, where a majority will constitute sufficient support for re-licensing. * As a heads up, communities should be more careful with importing external FDL content, unless they know for sure that it will be migrated to CC-BY-SA in the near future. This will not affect Wikimedia-internal copying transactions, as either all or no GFDL-licensed Wikimedia wikis will be switched to CC-BY-SA. If some GFDL 1.2 content that cannot be migrated later is imported by accident, that should not present any great difficulty -- we will simply remove it as we would remove any other problematic copyrighted content. More information will follow later this month as we develop the re-licensing proposal. Let me know if you have any immediate questions. Thanks, Erik -- Erik Möller Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation Support Free Knowledge: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate
The logo of the GNU project 
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has announced a new version of the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) which paves the way for the Wikimedia Foundation's (WMF) projects, including the popular Wikipedia, to switch to the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike (CC-BY-SA) license. 
The logo of the Wikimedia Foundation 
The move was announced following discussions between the Wikimedia Foundation and the FSF.

Erik Möller, deputy director of the WMF, explained the reasoning behind this move. "The underlying motivation of this change is that CC-BY-SA is an easier-to-use license granting the same essential freedoms as the GFDL," he stated on the official Wikimedia blog. "It is also more widely used by other educational projects, and switching the license would allow Wikimedia wikis to freely share content with those projects."

Möller also state that "later this month, we will post a re-licensing proposal for all Wikimedia wikis which are currently licensed under the GFDL." 

The change was made in section eleven of the license. It says that conversion to CC-BY-SA is only possible if:
Logo of Creative Commons 
*The work is licensed under version free of the GFDL
*The work has no “Cover Texts” or “Invariant Sections.” 
*The work must have been added to a wiki, or a similar website, before November 1, 2008.

The condition of the license allows for conversion to the CC license before August 1, 2009, although after that date it will  no longer be possible. 

The Wikimedia Foundation formally decided to ask the FSF for the change in December 2007, with the approval of five of the six members of the Wikimedia board, with one member not voting.

Despite the support of the Wikimedia Foundation, some people have voiced their opposition to the move. On Advogato, Chris Frey sent an open letter to the chair of the FSF, Richard Stallman. "I am writing to express my disappointment with the Free Software Foundation regarding the recent release of the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3," he stated. "The new version 1.3 adds a new clause, section 11, which, according to the FAQ, allows wiki sites to relicense specific content from GFDL 1.3 to CC-BY-SA 3.0, for content added before November 1, 2008. They have this relicensing option until August 1, 2009. This, in my view, is a serious moral mistake and breach of trust. Even if this new clause does no harm, it is still the wrong thing to do."