draft of tex live letter to lugs

Karl Berry tex-live@tug.org
Mon, 29 Mar 1999 05:55:31 -0500 (EST)


Before this can be sent, we still need to determine the final price info
after Pat gets us the sleeve/jacket cost.

Also need to figure out some way to approximate the shipping cost.
I'll work on that later today.

There's a conditional at the end according to whether the lug is
well-off or subsidized.


Any other comments or suggestions or problems?


 To: <lug contact>
 Reply-To: tex-live@tug.org
 Subject: TeX Live 4 available to local TeX user groups

TeX Live 4 is almost ready!  It will have a runnable system for all
major Unix variants (including both Linux libc5 and libc6) and Windows 32
(Windows NT, 95, and 98) systems.  It also will include archives of
CMacTeX (for Mac users), emTeX (for Windows 3.1 or OS/2 users), and
djgpptex (alternative for Windows 3.1 or earlier).  Support for FreeBSD,
NeXT, and Amiga, as well as the MikTeX distribution, is not included
due solely to lack of space.

The TeX Users Group has arranged with Sebastian Rahtz, the editor of the
TeX Live CD-ROM, to act as the distributor of TeX Live 4, the release of
TeX Live for 1999.  In doing so, TUG aims to support Sebastian's efforts
to create this CD and to provide it at nominal cost to TeX users
worldwide.

First, about copying conditions.  TUG's intention in the terms for
further redistribution of the TeX Live CD-ROM is to give the donors of
the software contained therein the assurance that the licensing
requirements they have made are properly observed.  Because these
requirements vary so much between different packages on the CD, TUG
strongly recommends that you simply pass the CD on to your members and
allow TUG to handle requests for further redistribution of the CD.

In any case, recipients of the CD can only copy and redistribute the
software thereon by complying with the conditions placed on the relevant
packages involved.  To facilitate this, TUG will prepare a short
announcement of the TeX Live CD mentioning the general copying
conditions (TUG will, e.g., publish this flyer in the relevant issue of
TUGboat).  There will be a file on the CD that also explains this.

Some of the software requires that, if it is packaged with other
publications, such as books or journals, those things be freely
copyable.  A model for this is TUGboat; please see the notice on the
inside front cover of TUGboat <copied below>. This is relevant if you
plan on distributing the CD with your newsletter or journal.

Anyone interested in including the CD with a non-redistributable
offering of any kind should contact TUG directly.  This is not allowed
by default.  Likewise, charging more than a nominal fee (to recover
costs) is also not allowed by default -- and it is better to charge
nothing at all for the CD itself, but to provide it as a free benefit of
membership.  (These conditions, like the others, are set by some of the
software on the CD, not by TUG.)

If you have concerns in distributing the TeX Live CD to your members,
please contact us right away at the email address below.  


Second, production details: expected manufacturing date of TL4 is early-
to mid-April 1999.  We expect to mail the CD's to you shortly thereafter.

-- if for subsidized user group --
TUG can offer TeX Live to your user group at a cost of US$xx per copy,
and will absorb the shipping cost.  If this price is infeasible for your
group, please contact us to work out an arrangement.  This price may
decrease slightly (depending on how many other orders we receive) but
will not increase.

-- else for well-off user groups --
We expect to be able to offer TeX Live to your user group at a cost of
US$xx per copy, plus the cost of shipping.  This is slightly more than
cost of reproduction; that extra cost will go towards subsidizing the
cost of TeX Live for other user groups in countries with weaker
economies; TUG will not benefit.  If this cost presents a burden for
your group, please contact us to acquire the CD at cost.

-- end if


Finally, your response is requested: please respond to tex-live@tug.org
as soon as possible with your desired quantity, even if that quantity is
zero.  Please also inform us if your country requires any special
customs arrangements, if you have a preferred courier service, or other
such shipping arrangements.

Thanks, and happy TeX'ing,
tex-live@tug.org


Here is the copying permission notice in TUGboat referred to above:

  Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
  this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
  are preserved on all copies.

  Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
  manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the entire
  resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission
  notice identical to this one.

  Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
  into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions,
  except that this permission notice may be stated in a translation approved
  by the TeX Users Group instead of in the original English.

  Copyright to individual articles is retained by the authors.