Legal Update

[Jeff Spaleta]

On Nov 16, 2007 10:22 AM, Vladimir Kosovac <vnk at mkc.co.nz> wrote:
> Apart from direct links to livna/RPM Fusion, other repos maybe, this
> page could provide a bit more general reference to what exactly third
> parties are hosting, by listing multi-media players, display drivers,
> etc, rather than explicitly mentioning encumbered codecs. That ought to
> be 'general' enough to stay in clear from a legal perspective.

No i think you are wrong. I think mentioning repository contents by
name should be absolutely off-limits.   A sample of general categories
of things at each listed repository possibly, but specific software
projects absolutely not. 3rd party repository sites will hopefully
have browsable searchable listings, there's very very little point it
attempting to make a hand-picked selection of packages in our
description of the repository. And there's certaintly no point in
attempting to duplicate the full list of repository offerings in a
fedora controlled space...we'd never be as accurate as the repository
site's own listings, unless that repository is dedicated to a single
package like Adobe's flash plugin repository.

I think Fedora as a project and the userbase are best served if we
limit ourselves to a statement that these repositories include
software that does not meet the Fedora Project guidelines for
inclusion and leave it at that.  If we can't leave it at that, then I
would go as far as supporting the listing a few categories of software
that apply to a repository if we mean to list multiple repositories.
Dribble for example would be all about games. I wouldn't bother
telling people which games... just that Dribble is where you should
look if you are interested in more games.

-jef