An idea for RPM -> License Agreement support

[Chris Brown]

On 30/05/07, Hikaru Amano <kagesenshi.87 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 5/30/07, Chris Brown <snecklifter at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I doubt the reason Sun Java supplies their installer as an executable
> binary
> > is so that the license is read and agreed to. All packages are subject
> to
>
> yes it is .. after you select agree .. there'll be an RPM in the
> current folder .. and you can install it as usual using rpm -i ..
> (though the bin file automically done it for you)


Sun's Java is the only package I know of then that uses wrapping of an rpm
in a binary file simply in order to force users to read the license
agreement. Its a bit of a non-issue anyway what with the releasing of Java
under the GPL.

> license review before inclusion into Fedora and as you agree/acknowledge
> > that Fedora is provided as a distribution under the GPLv2 at install
> time I
> > think license issues are covered - Red Hat legal can comment better
> however.
> > If the real reason for your query is so we can offload "issues" such as
> the
> > usual forbidden item stuff to the user then you are maybe missing the
> point.
> > Fedora doesn't ship software with restrictive licenses, period. The
> reasons
> > for this have been covered before ad infinitum and ad nauseum.
> >
>
> I dont mean its for the official Fedora repos ... Fedora 100%
> dedicated to Free software and I love that .. This idea is more for
> 3rd party sotwares .. like games etc ... by having license agreement
> support , i believe it will encourage them to package in RPM instead
> of in some installer that only does extraction of files ..
>
> about auto update ... if the package already installed .. just skip
> license agreement ..
>
>
The two issues are at loggerheads. The Fedora project is about increasing
the use of free software and all the mechanisms are in place to handle that
from a licensing standpoint. If companies insist on releasing software under
closed source or non-OSI licenses that is their right but we should not have
to cater for them. If you want software license under other licenses then
you generally know where to go.

Chris


-- 
http://www.chruz.com
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