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Q: Distributing Redhat and Mozilla on a PC ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   1 Comment )
Question  
Subject: Distributing Redhat and Mozilla on a PC
Category: Computers > Operating Systems
Asked by: fariateam-ga
List Price: $10.00
Posted: 02 Jan 2003 18:38 PST
Expires: 01 Feb 2003 18:38 PST
Question ID: 136774
If I build a PC and install Redhat Linux 8.0 with Mozilla as the only
application running and only say I am charging for the hardware, what
do I have to consider when it comes to licensing and making the sell
legal?
Answer  
Subject: Re: Distributing Redhat and Mozilla on a PC
Answered By: webadept-ga on 02 Jan 2003 19:11 PST
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
Hi, 

Open source doesn't equal Free, it just means it's open. 

Learn something new every day here. You can download the Red Hat Linux
operating system for free from ftp.redhat.com. To access
ftp.redhat.com, log in as 'anonymous' and use your email address for
the password. Our FTP servers stay pretty busy, as Red Hat Linux 8.0
contains more than 1000 RPMs taking up more than 900 MB. If you cannot
connect to the Red Hat FTP server or simply want a site closer to your
location, try one of the many mirror sites around the world. Or, you
can buy the product and have it sent to your doorstep.

Now I started to answer this question with a negative, but from all I
read on their website, as long as you are not charging them for that
software, then you are fine. You can charge them for downloading and
installing it, which is a bit of a odd line to walk, but you can not
charge them for the software, unless you first purchased the copy
yourself. If you charge them for nothing except the hardware, then you
have nothing to worry about.

Be sure to use the copy that you download from the ftp site I listed
for you, don't purchase a copy and give them that. They are not quite
the same. Just dot the "i's" and cross the "t's" and you will be okay.

Thanks, 

webadpet-ga

Request for Answer Clarification by fariateam-ga on 02 Jan 2003 21:38 PST
From what I understand the applications that come with Redhat fall
under different ditribution rules, does the answer you provided cover
a full install or just the Redhat OS?

Thanks,
Bryan

Clarification of Answer by webadept-ga on 02 Jan 2003 22:39 PST
Hi, 

The answer covers everything that is in that free download of ISO's.
All packages in those ISO's have already been worked out with the
various "owners". There will be some packages not in there I suspect,
such as mSQL, which changed it's licence agreement some time ago.
MySQL will be in there, apache, perl, php, etc. To keep yourself
"sure" I would only install what was offered in the free downloads.
http://www.redhat.com/apps/download/

Software Use
Any software that is made available to you to download from the
Website (the "Software") is the copyrighted work of Red Hat and/or
third parties. Your use of the Software is governed by the terms of
the end user license agreement which accompanies or is included with
the Software (the "License Agreement"). You shall not install any
Software that is accompanied by or includes a License Agreement,
unless you first agree to the terms of the License Agreement.

SOFTWARE IS WARRANTED, IF AT ALL, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TERMS OF THE
LICENSE AGREEMENT. EXCEPT AS SET FORTH IN THE LICENSE AGREEMENT, ALL
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE DISCLAIMED, EXCEPT TO THE
EXTENT THAT SUCH DISCLAIMERS ARE HELD TO BE LEGALLY INVALID.

http://www.redhat.com/legal/legal_statement.html

BEFORE DISTRIBUTING A COPY OF THE SOFTWARE, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER IT
HAS BEEN MODIFIED. IN ADDITION, IF YOU MAKE A COMMERCIAL
REDISTRIBUTION OF THE SOFTWARE AND (A) YOU DO NOT FALL WITHIN AN
EXCEPTION PROVIDED IN RED HAT'S TRADEMARK GUIDELINES, (B) YOU HAVE NOT
ENTERED INTO A REDISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT WITH RED HAT, OR (C) YOU DO
NOT HAVE A TRADEMARK LICENSE AGREEMENT WITH RED HAT, THEN YOU MUST
MODIFY THE FILES IDENTIFIED AS REDHAT-LOGOS AND ANACONDA-IMAGES SO AS
TO REMOVE ALL USE OF IMAGES CONTAINING THE "RED HAT" TRADEMARK OR RED
HAT'S SHADOW MAN LOGO. NOTE THAT MERE DELETION OF THOSE FILES MAY
CORRUPT THE SOFTWARE.

http://www.redhat.com/licenses/rhl_8-0_personal_us.html?location=United+States&

So if you start charging for it, you better make it your own,
basically. Since you have no intention of charging for it, you don't
have to worry about it. You are just doing the customer a favor, so in
this area the software is a non-commercial transaction. If you charge
even $1.00, then this paragraph applies and you have to go through and
remove all Redhat code and icons from the package, which sounds like
it could be quite a hassle, and very little bennifit to your customer.

Thanks, 

webadept-ga
fariateam-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars
Excellent answer! Thanks!

Comments  
Subject: Re: Distributing Redhat and Mozilla on a PC
From: legolas-ga on 02 Jan 2003 20:48 PST
 
Hi fariateam-ga,

Webadepts answer seems to be incorrect. Let me clarify what you can do
or not do with GPL software.

The GPL allows for a fee to be charged for the software, for the
physical media, for support, etc.. There is NOTHING you CAN'T charge
for! The *ONLY* thing you must provide for a *REASONABLE FEE* is the
sourcecode to the product. Since RedHat has all the source code
available as a free download too, you can easily provide the source
from RedHat as well!

Remember, the GPL licence allows you to sell, trade, share, and
distribute the software to everyone you know--but, the software is
still copyrighted (well, copylefted) by RedHat and all the
contributors. Therefore, you can NOT change the terms of the GPL
licence, or re-licence the software under DIFFERENT terms.

To summarize: you can charge anything you want for the CD's and for
RedHat. You can freely charge $1,000,000.00 for a single CD with
RedHat 8.0 on it: but, you can't impose any restrictions on the
distribution of that same CD! You MAY however impose a restriction on
the SUPPORT YOU provide for the one million fee you've charged.

You can't impose licencing that is more restrictive than the GPL (but
you can restrict the number of installs that you'll provide support
for). For a great discussion, take a look at the GNU site - they have
a page all about "Selling GNU GPL software".. It can be found here:
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html

Hope that helps

Legolas-ga

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