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2026

GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3

Also known as GFDL, GFDL 1.3, GNU FDL.

Commercial use
allowed
Share alike
required
Attribution
required (keep the copyright and license notices)
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Write this as a license text (needs an account) DALICC reads the model above and writes what it permits, requires and prohibits in plain English. Without an account, the Text download above writes the model out from the vocabulary.

Canonical URI https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/GnuFreeDocumentationLicense

Permissions

  • Charge distribution fee from the text The text says: "However, you may accept compensation in exchange for copies." Charging a fee for the act of providing a copy of the work to someone else.
  • Commercial use from the text Using the work to generate income, directly or indirectly, for example by selling it or by using it in advertising.
  • Derivative works from the text Distributing an adaptation of the work and making it available to the public.
  • Derive from the text Creating a new work from the work, such as a translation, adaptation or arrangement of it or of a part of it.

    Duties

    • Attribution from the text Giving credit to the copyright holders or authors of the work, in the form the licensor asks for.
    • Modification notice from the text Marking a changed work as changed, saying how it differs from the original and keeping earlier notices of change.
    • Notice from the text Notice: keeping the license and copyright notices with every copy.
    • Source code from the text Providing access to the source code of the work with every copy distributed.
  • Display from the text Showing the work to the public without making a copy the viewer keeps.
  • Distribute from the text Providing copies of the work to the public or to anyone else.

    Duties

    • Attribution from the text Giving credit to the copyright holders or authors of the work, in the form the licensor asks for.
    • Notice from the text Notice: keeping the license and copyright notices with every copy.
    • Source code from the text Providing access to the source code of the work with every copy distributed.
  • Modified works from the text Distributing a modified version of the work that does not amount to a new, derivative work.
  • Modify from the text Altering the work, for example by updating it, without creating a new work; an alteration that creates a new work is Derive.

    Duties

    • Attribution from the text Giving credit to the copyright holders or authors of the work, in the form the licensor asks for.
    • Modification notice from the text Marking a changed work as changed, saying how it differs from the original and keeping earlier notices of change.
    • Notice from the text Notice: keeping the license and copyright notices with every copy.
    • Source code from the text Providing access to the source code of the work with every copy distributed.
  • Present from the text Performing the work in public, including by broadcast or other communication to the public.
  • Reproduce from the text Making copies of the work in any form.

Prohibitions

  • Change license from the text Not permitted: Change license. Replacing the license of the work, or of an adaptation, with another license, or changing its terms.
  • Promote from the text Not permitted: Promote. Using the name or trademarks of the licensor or of contributors to endorse or promote a product.

License-wide duties

  • Share alike from the text Adaptations have to be licensed under the same license or one the license names as compatible.

What applies by default

The statements above are the library's reading of this license: each is marked with the sentence it rests on, or as a library convention where the text is not explicit. The statements below are the ones the DALICC reasoner supplies for acts the license says nothing about, from the default rules of the dependency graph it reasons with. Each one names the legal source it rests on. None of it is in the record.

No default rule of that graph reaches this license: it speaks about every act the rules are about.

Clauses

Warranty disclaimer

The Document may include Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice which states that this License applies to the Document. These Warranty Disclaimers are considered to be included by reference in this License, but only as regards disclaiming warranties: any other implication that these Warranty Disclaimers may have is void and has no effect on the meaning of this License.

Info

Target asset types
Creative work (i.e. text, picture, sound, movie), Software
Region / jurisdiction
Worldwide
Validity
Perpetual
Source
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html
Legal code
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html
This description is published under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Publisher
Free Software Foundation
SPDX identifier
GFDL-1.3-only on the SPDX license list
DALICC identifier
GnuFreeDocumentationLicense

This record is published under CC BY 4.0. Credit it as: DALICC License Library, DALICC - Verein zur Förderung der Rechtssicherheit in der Datenbewirtschaftung, https://dalicc.net, CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The license it describes belongs to its publisher.

Use this license

Everything below is generated from this record. Replace the example address with the address of your own work.

JSON sidecar 

{
  "license-uri": "https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/GnuFreeDocumentationLicense",
  "license-title": "GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3",
  "spdx-id": "GFDL-1.3-only",
  "attribution": "Copyright (c) [year] [copyright holder]",
  "asset": null,
  "generated-by": "DALICC"
}

RDF, Turtle 

@prefix cc: <http://creativecommons.org/ns#> .

<https://example.org/my-work>
    cc:license <https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/GnuFreeDocumentationLicense> .

RDF, JSON-LD 

{
  "@context": {
    "cc": "http://creativecommons.org/ns#"
  },
  "@id": "https://example.org/my-work",
  "cc:license": {
    "@id": "https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/GnuFreeDocumentationLicense"
  }
}

HTML attribution 

<p>This work is licensed under <a href="https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/GnuFreeDocumentationLicense" rel="license">GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3</a>.</p>

This license asks for attribution, so the credit line is part of it.

Badge DALICC badge for GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3

Markdown 

[![License: GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3](https://dalicc.net/license-library/GnuFreeDocumentationLicense/badge.svg)](https://dalicc.net/license-library/GnuFreeDocumentationLicense)

HTML 

<a href="https://dalicc.net/license-library/GnuFreeDocumentationLicense"><img src="https://dalicc.net/license-library/GnuFreeDocumentationLicense/badge.svg" alt="License: GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3"></a>

Review

Status
Reviewed against the license text
Last checked
2026-09-15
Reviewer
Giray Havur
Verdict
corrected during the review
Record changed since this review
yes (version 2, 2026-09-24)
Findings
6 recorded, 3 applied to the record, 1 proposed

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.

6 findings

  • minor Rubric 1 spdx:licenseId applied

    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.

  • major Rubric 3 odrl:prohibition applied

    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.

  • major Rubric 5 odrl:duty applied

    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.

  • minor Rubric 2 odrl:target proposed

    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.

  • gap Rubric 8 vocabulary none

    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.

  • minor Rubric 6 dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer none

    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.

Report an issue The review record as JSON The review checks the model against the license text. It is not legal advice.

History

This license model has 2 versions. Version 2 is the one served today; every earlier version keeps its own address, so a conclusion drawn from one of them can still be checked against it.

  1. Version 2 current2026-09-24 Giray Havur

    The content review of 2026-09-15 added 1 identification detail and 1 permission, removed 1 prohibition, recorded the relation to the record this one was adapted from and recorded the review state. Later changes corrected it against its text on 2026-09-23, recorded which sentence of the text each statement rests on and named the license the record itself is published under.

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    11 changes

    • added dalicc:reviewStatus dalicc:Reviewed

      Review state Every record records how far it has come in the editorial workflow and when it was last checked against the legal text.

    • added dalicc:reviewedOn "2026-09-15"^^xsd:date

      Review state Every record records how far it has come in the editorial workflow and when it was last checked against the legal text.

    • added dalicc:variantKind "version"

      Port relation The 2026-09-15 review made the relation between a jurisdiction port and the record it was adapted from explicit in the data.

    • added permission dalicc:chargeDistributionFee

      Review finding 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.

    • removed prohibition dalicc:chargeDistributionFee

      Review finding 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.

    • added spdx:licenseId "GFDL-1.3-only"

      Review finding 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.

    • changed permission odrl:derive with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode, dalicc:modificationNotice]

      was permission odrl:derive with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode, dalicc:modificationNotice, dct:source]

      Manual edit The three duty nodes whose odrl:action was dct:source are gone. dct:source is a Dublin Core property and not an action, so the dependency graph could not see the duty and the validator counted it among the actions outside the ODRL, CC and DALICC vocabularies. Each of the three permissions already carries cc:SourceCode for the same rule of section 3, "you must either include a machine-readable Transparent copy along with each Opaque copy, or state in or with each Opaque copy a computer-network location ... containing a complete Transparent copy", so nothing the licence says was lost.

    • changed permission odrl:distribute with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode]

      was permission odrl:distribute with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode, dct:source]

      Manual edit The three duty nodes whose odrl:action was dct:source are gone. dct:source is a Dublin Core property and not an action, so the dependency graph could not see the duty and the validator counted it among the actions outside the ODRL, CC and DALICC vocabularies. Each of the three permissions already carries cc:SourceCode for the same rule of section 3, "you must either include a machine-readable Transparent copy along with each Opaque copy, or state in or with each Opaque copy a computer-network location ... containing a complete Transparent copy", so nothing the licence says was lost.

    • changed permission odrl:modify with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode, dalicc:modificationNotice]

      was permission odrl:modify with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, cc:SourceCode, dalicc:modificationNotice, dct:source]

      Manual edit The three duty nodes whose odrl:action was dct:source are gone. dct:source is a Dublin Core property and not an action, so the dependency graph could not see the duty and the validator counted it among the actions outside the ODRL, CC and DALICC vocabularies. Each of the three permissions already carries cc:SourceCode for the same rule of section 3, "you must either include a machine-readable Transparent copy along with each Opaque copy, or state in or with each Opaque copy a computer-network location ... containing a complete Transparent copy", so nothing the licence says was lost.

    • changed permission dalicc:chargeDistributionFee

      was permission dalicc:chargeDistributionFee

      Manual edit The statement now quotes the sentence of the licence text it rests on: "However, you may accept compensation in exchange for copies."

    • added dct:license <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/>

      Manual edit Every record is published under CC BY 4.0. cc:license names the record DALICC keeps of that licence; dct:license now names it by the address Creative Commons publishes it at, so that a consumer matching the canonical IRI finds it.

  2. Version 1

    The version this model had before the content review of 2026-09-15.

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Every change names the reason behind it: a finding of the content review, one of its library-wide decisions, the metadata that review wrote onto every record, or a hand edit. None of it is legal advice.

Variants

5 records in the library model this same legal text with one thing changed: the option of a later version, an exception that lifts one condition, or a rider that adds one. Each of them is a license of its own and is listed like any other. See variant in the glossary.

Nothing on this page is legal advice. What a license means is decided by its text; ask a legal advisor before you rely on it.