Three kinds of packages

[Chris Adams]

Once upon a time, Bill Davidsen <davidsen at tmr.com> said:
> I would just like to remind people that there are not two (Fedora and 
> non-free) kinds of package, but three, the totally free (Fedora), the close 
> source but legal (fglrx and similar vendor drivers), and the only legal in 
> the free world, restricted in fascist countries.
> 
> I mention this because vendor drivers, while not open source, are free and 
> legal to use and redistribute. So let's not talk about rpmfusion and *forge 
> software as illegal, much of it is not, even  in the USA.

Aside from calling the US fascist (which is a little over the top,
especially since the US isn't the only country that has allowed and/or
enforced the stupid patents), you're wrong on another point.  A number
of the closed source kernel modules are of questionable legality (and
not just in the US), because they may be derived works of the Linux
kernel.  A derived work of the kernel must be GPLv2, which can't be
closed source.

-- 
Chris Adams <cmadams at hiwaay.net>
Systems and Network Administrator - HiWAAY Internet Services
I don't speak for anybody but myself - that's enough trouble.