{"id":"GnuFreeDocumentationLicense","title":"GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3","reviewed_on":"2026-09-15","reviewer":"Giray Havur","text_source":"https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl-1.3.html","text_retrieved":true,"verdict":"corrected","summary":"The record models the Free Documentation License version 1.3 with the GNU copyleft shape: share-alike license-wide, source-code, attribution, notice and modification-notice duties. Two things were wrong: the license was said to forbid charging for distribution, which the text expressly allows, and the record has no SPDX id. Three duty nodes use dct:source as an odrl:action, which is not an action at all.","findings":[{"rubric":1,"severity":"minor","field":"spdx:licenseId","description":"The title names version 1.3 and the fetched legal code is fdl-1.3. SPDX splits the license into GFDL-1.3-only and GFDL-1.3-or-later; the record models no \"or any later version\" option, so the \"-only\" id was added.","action":"applied","change":"spdx:licenseId \"GFDL-1.3-only\" ;\n"},{"rubric":3,"severity":"major","field":"odrl:prohibition","description":"Section 2 states: \"you may accept compensation in exchange for copies\". The record prohibited dalicc:chargeDistributionFee, which contradicts the text and would make every paid documentation reprint look unlicensed. Removed the prohibition and added the permission.","action":"applied","change":"# removed\nodrl:prohibition [ a odrl:Prohibition ;\n        odrl:action dalicc:chargeDistributionFee ] ;\n# added\nodrl:permission [ a odrl:Permission ;\n        odrl:action dalicc:chargeDistributionFee ] ;\n"},{"rubric":5,"severity":"major","field":"odrl:duty","description":"Three duty nodes carried \"odrl:action dct:source\". dct:source is a Dublin Core property, not an action, so the dependency graph could not see it and the duty was invisible to the compatibility checker. The three nodes are removed. Each of the three permissions already carries cc:SourceCode for the same rule of section 3, so nothing the licence says was lost.","action":"applied","change":"# removed from the distribute, modify and derive duties\n# odrl:action dct:source\n"},{"rubric":2,"severity":"minor","field":"odrl:target","description":"The asset collection lists dcmitype:Software. The Free Documentation License governs manuals, textbooks and other written documents; section 1 defines the \"Document\" as a \"manual or other work, in any medium\". dcmitype:Text is the right type. Removing a target type changes faceted search results, so it is proposed.","action":"proposed","change":"# remove dcmitype:Software from odrl:target, add\nodrl:target [ a odrl:AssetCollection ;\n        dct:type dcmitype:Text ] ;\n"},{"rubric":8,"severity":"gap","field":"vocabulary","description":"Section 2 states: \"You may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies you make or distribute.\" The Invariant Sections, Cover Texts and Transparent Copy duties of sections 3 and 4 have no term either. Proposed terms: dalicc:antiTechnicalMeasures, dalicc:invariantSections, dalicc:transparentCopy.","action":"none"},{"rubric":6,"severity":"minor","field":"dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer","description":"The stored disclaimer is the section 1 definition of what a Warranty Disclaimer is, not a disclaimer given by this license. The Free Documentation License has no warranty clause of its own, so the field is arguably empty rather than wrong.","action":"none"}],"family":"GNU copyleft family (GPL, LGPL, AGPL, FDL)","port_of":null,"variant_kind":"version","notes":"Documentation license inside the GNU family. Not a software license despite the target type."}