L I N U X F O C U S M A N I F E S T O -------------------------------------------- LinuxFocus(R) 1998, is a registered trademark This file contains a first draft for a constitution of LinuxFocus Magazine as a non-for-profit organization. It describes in as much detail as possible our organization, goals, projects, sites and license terms covering our articles and material. Introduction ============ LinuxFocus came to existance late 1997 when a small group of Linux fans in non-english speaking countries realized that the amount of support and documentation for the Linux operating system was close to none in their respective languages. Although most of us were able to read English news groups, HOWTOS and books, we felt that providing information of this nature in a non-english language was very important. Most young people in non-english speaking countries rarely speak or read English, their first experience with a computer operating system likely comes from the hand of Microsoft windoze. MS sells their distribution in almost all languages imaginable. Commercial linux distributors are not even near that level. Our fundamental goal is then pedagogical. To reach a new generation of users and to provide enough information in their native language so that they can join in the linux community. LinuxFocus has a second goal of more importance for veteran users. At LinuxFocus we would like to use the power of online communication to carry on series of articles on subjects of general interest, hierarchical organization of free source code and documentation, online interactive tutorials, online conferences, etc... Who is involved and how to be a member ======================================= LF is made of a growing number of regular contributors and volunteers plus hundreds of sporadic helpers. At the moment our organization is very fluid and still under constant changes. LF people come from all sources and educational backgrounds. We have students, scientists, engineers, college faculty, etc... Many are part of other Linux projects. New people are always welcome. The best way to become part of LinuxFocus is contacting the project coordinator for your language of interest. To find out who is the appropriate editor-in-chief visit our webpage http://www.linuxfocus.org/index.html Or send an email to LinuxFocus project leader Miguel A Sepulveda at sepulveda@linuxfocus.org Is LinuxFocus a commercial company? ================================= We are not a commercial company. Most of us are too busy pursuing other profesional careers so we cannot work full time on LinuxFocus. Our organization is slowly and naturally evolving into a non-for-profit organization. LinuxFocus is brought to you as a result of the effort of a number of people and the generous effort of ISPs and Linux vendors that give us free server and internet access. One of our goals is to raise enough funds to purchase our own servers and ISP access. We also would like to have funds to contract series of articles that might be too long or complex for any single volunteer to take on in a reasonable time. Another of our needs is to provide some compensation for network and information systems personal to take care of our server infrastructure. Copyright policy ================ LinuxFocus articles are copyrighted by their respective authors. The articles, news and documentation on our websites is available online for free. We also allow the reproduction of verbatim copies of LF material for scholastic and/or personal use, however the integrity of the original text, formatting and advertisement space must be preserved. Any changes to LinuxFocus material requires the prior approval of its authors and or the magazine. Commercial use of LinuxFocus articles is not allowed without prior written permission from its authors. In order to allow the distribution of LinuxFocus magazine we need to request authors a few elemental conditions for publishing their work. These conditions are aimed at helping us legally translate their articles and distribute them through our web and FTP sites. Authors that submit articles to LinuxFocus should be reminded by editors to read this manifesto. Every author to LF should receive a copy of this manifesto and be given a chance to review it. If within a reasonable time period LinuxFocus does not receive a response we will assume that the author of the submitted article agrees to the following terms. LinuxFocus Social Contract =========================== 1) Authors submitting articles to LF are giving us implicit permission to publish and translate their articles. It is the only way for us to publish work copyrighted by the authors. Authors should understand that our publication may take place in our official websites, FTP sites and respective mirrors. All these sites are of free access to users with internet connection. LinuxFocus may also distribute the articles as part of future monographic issues in CD, paper or whatever form is necessary. 2) LinuxFocus has its own set of formatting standards so we almost certainly reformat submitted works to fit our style. Additional illustrations and references maybe added to articles if we judge that it will improve the aestetics and bibliographical content. Authors are always welcome to give us any special suggestions as to the motif of illustrations or formatting requirements. We will do the outmost to adjust LF style to authors wishes. 3) Everyone at LinuxFocus is a volunteer working on an idealistic cause to improve the level of documentation on Linux in a number of languages. We cannot assure the quality of translations, and therefore be responsible for errors. However, if errors are detected we will appreciate being notified and we will do our best effort to correct it. 4) Published articles should not be considered final expression of speach but on-going pieces of work. Authors are free to review their published articles over time, make modifications, additions, etc. This policy hopes to improve or update the content of articles. Updated articles should be resubmitted and follow the standard process. 5) Articles may be submitted to any of the editors of the magazine, or directly via email to sepulveda@linuxfocus.org 6) Articles submitted to LinuxFocus may be peer-reviewed in order to improve LinuxFocus overall quality. 7) Anyone can download, print, or distribute copies of LinxuFocus articles for personal or scholastic usage. LinuxFocus articles are not made available on our website for commercial usage. Anyone interested on distributing LF articles for commercial purposes should contact their respective authors to obtain explicit written permission. 8) Translated works are not solely the property of authors but also of LinuxFocus. Therefore no commercial use can be made of translated work without LF approval. 9) Distribution of LF magazine on CD by non-for-profit organizations or groups is allowed as long as the contents of the magazine are distributed in full and without alterations. Distributors may charge a "reasonable" fee to cover the expenses of production. Distributing LinuxFocus magazine implies to include the full hierarchy of files under http://www.linuxfocus.org. Disclaimer ========== THE CONTENTS OF THIS MAGAZINE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. LINUXFOCUS IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENT OF THE ARTICLES AND THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE THE AUTHORS ONLY AND DOES NOT REPRESENT NEITHER LINUXFOCUS NOR OUR SPONSORS.