[Centos] Red Hat Legal Targets www.centos.org website content

Dag Wieers dag at wieers.com
Mon Feb 14 22:48:57 UTC 2005


On Mon, 14 Feb 2005, Joe Polk wrote:

> > On Mon, 14 Feb 2005 11:14:10 -0600, David Thompson wrote:
> > 
> > > The community doesn't owe Red Hat anything.  They are only
> > > doing what they are required to do by the GPL.
> > 
> > Actually, not! SuSE operates under the same GPL. Their source is 
> > available, but you do not have the right to modify it or 
> > redistribute it. That's the difference between RH and SuSE.
> 
> I don't believe that is right about SuSe. You can redistribute their source
> just as they do. They differ from RH in that I can buy a boxed set and install
> it on more than one PC legally. Any support for it would only be for 1 PC.<br>

I'm interested. Where do you sign something that forbids this ? As far as 
I know the GPL specifically forbids to add restrictions to GPLed software.

It could mean that you could be thrown out of Red Hat's service and 
support framework. (Because that's what you actually bought) But as far as 
using the obtained GPL software goes, I think you have a right te use that 
without added restrictions.

Also not all the software bundled is GPL, so it is a bit more complex than 
this :) And I'm sure that the general advice is, talk to your lawyer. 
IANAL

--   dag wieers,  dag at wieers.com,  http://dag.wieers.com/   --
[all I want is a warm bed and a kind word and unlimited power]



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