ANSI C spec

[Walter Bright]

Being involved in the compiler business, I have a lot of interest in
the new C standard. On the whole, I think it's pretty good, except
for the statement in the front that 'This document may be reproduced
only for purposes relevant to the standardization process.' The whole
point of the standard is so that compilers match it as close as
possible. This includes the documentation. The easiest and surest way
to make the documentation conform is to copy sections of the manual
where appropriate. The problem is that portions of the C spec seem to
be word for word from the ATT manuals, which are copyrighted, and also
that statement above.

	Is the spec copyrighted, even though there is no copyright notice
in it?

	Does the statement in the spec about reproducing the document hold
any legal water without a prominent copyright notice?

	Why would the ANSI committee wish to restrict reproduction of the
text anyway?

	Has ATT given up copyright rights to the sections that originally
came from their manuals?

	I'm sure this problem has arisen with previous specs. Anybody
know how it got resolved?

I have written the ANSI committee about this, with no response.

It sure is a pain trying to write 'same only different' descriptions of
library routines.