Revisiting an old topic: licensing/titlement and "redistribution"

[fernando at lozano.eti.br]

Hi there,

> > > What you pay for is the patches and support you get over RHN. The media
> > alone
> > > is as I understand it GPLed. Kinda'. Confusing enough? 8-}

The media contains software under many different licenses, some GPL, some LGPL, some BSD, etc. But
all OSI-certified licenses.

Red Hat can't change the license terms for software it does not own, so for each individual package
the license is the one stated by the author and you can check this using rpm.


> > Thanks for the reply... my RH sales rep is telling me differently
> > though.
> >
> > They are trying to tell me that one set of "CD's" (installation media
> > of whatever form) can only be used for one installation.

Unfortunately I've seem many RH sales reps talking bullshit. Many of them doesn't understand open
source licenses and Red Hat own business model at all. :-(


> > Or to put it another way, for each installation of RHEL we have, we
> > should have a corresponding entitlement purchased at some point (even
> > if it has expired).

The local Red Hat Office (not a simple sales tep, the area manager for latm) told us I can use the
media to install how many time I want anywhere. I just won't have the right to open support requests
and download updates using RHN.

And, for optional software (like storage and workstation) I can install the packages myself,
Anaconda restrictions (using the install number) are just a way to help customers install only
packages they are entitled to get support and updates.

Have you wondered why when those questions arise on the mailing lists nobody gives an official
answer? I guess nobody wants to contradit the misinformation sales reps give everywhere...


[]s, Fernando Lozano