Re: [ossig] Localised Distribution.

["Kenneth Wong" <ken@apdip.net>]

Depends on the distribution, really. Debian allows you to sell it for 
profit, since everything is Free/Open Source software. However, you 
can't restrict their licensing, so anyone you sell it to can likewise 
sell it for a profit as well. You might be able to make money if you 
have a monopoly on CD-burners, but otherwise, unlikely.

Red Hat doesn't care if you repackage their work but asks that you 
respect their trademarks. In other words, if you want to repackage their 
distribution, make sure to remove all their logos and other trademarked 
materials. Their consumer distribution is all Free/Open Source stuff 
too, so it is well within your rights.

SuSE can be a problem because of their installer tool, YaST (Yet another 
Setup Tool). YaST is not free or even open source software so you cannot 
redistribute it. Unless you strip out the installer, you cannot base 
your distribution on SuSEs.

Not sure about other distributions.

Moral of story - make sure you know the licenses of every single package 
in your new distribution.

You may want to read up on software licenses at 
http://www.fsf.org/licenses/license-list.html to start.

Ken

Michael Ong wrote:

> Before i get mistaken, let me re-phrase it :- It is illegal to 
> download the OS to resell and profit from it.
>  
>  
>     ----- Original Message -----
>     *From:* Michael Ong <mailto:michael@csn.com.my>
>     *To:* ossig@mncc.com.my <mailto:ossig@mncc.com.my>
>     *Sent:* Wednesday, May 28, 2003 4:29 PM
>     *Subject:* Re: [ossig] Localised Distribution.
>
>     Yes, if you do it that way. You can only download and use it for
>     free, not to profit from re-selling it .
>      
>      
>         ----- Original Message -----
>         *From:* Venantius Kumar <mailto:venks@hitts.com>
>         *To:* OSSIG Mail List <mailto:ossig@mncc.com.my>
>         *Sent:* Wednesday, May 28, 2003 3:15 PM
>         *Subject:* [ossig] Localised Distribution.
>
>         Is it legal for us to download on of those distrobution and
>         then repackage it to fit local needs and sell them?  Do we
>         have to pay / sign anything with the original distributor?
>          
>          
>         Regards,
>         Venantius.
>          


------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe: send mail to ossig-request@mncc.com.my
with "unsubscribe ossig" in the body of the message