DocBook: The Definitive Guide Updated
The Definitive Guide is now even more free. There are other updates too, but those happen with some regularity.
DocBook: The Definitive Guide (and its 5.0 counterpart) have always been “free”, that is, available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
However, the exact license had a back cover text clause (as the GFDL allows). If you printed it, you were required to put: “Visit O'Reilly on the Web at www.oreilly.com.” on the back cover.
At the time that license was initially used, O'Reilly was publishing the book in print and I thought it was perfectly reasonable to make sure O'Reilly got some credit.
The Debian community disagrees. I think the Debian position is a bit…pedantic, but I don't want to argue about it. I won't enjoy the argument and DocBook won't benefit from being perceived as having any sort of restrictive license.
With that in mind, I'm delighted to announce that, with O'Reilly's blessing, DocBook: The Definitive Guide and DocBook 5.0: The Definitive Guide are now available under the GNU FDL with no invariant clauses.
Share and enjoy!
Comments
I'm a big fan of Docbook TDG, but my copy is a bit dated. Do you know if O'Reilly is planning on publishing a second edition of TDG covering Docbook 5.0?
It seems unlikely, but when it's really ready, I'll certainly ask.
I should be able to find some self-publishing outfit, if nothing else.