[Mageia-dev] Mageia repository sections, licenses, restrictions, firmware etc

Wed Oct 13 02:31:29 CEST 2010

Le 2010-10-12 17:45, Tux99 a écrit :
+>
+>
+> Quote: marc wrote on Tue, 12 October 2010 19:31
+>
+>> The safest route is to offer FOSS software (they are well known and
+>> many
+>> have had their code audited) and leave the "fringe" softs on a repo
+>> that
+>> is left to the users' choice as install.
+>
+> Marc, FOSS has nothing to do with whether a particular software infringes
+> on patents in some countries or not, don't confuse the COPYRIGHT license
+> with patents issues.
+>
+> There is plenty of pure FOSS software that is infringing on some patents
+> (primarily in the US with their free-for-all software patent policy), in
+> fact given the amount of software patents granted in the US I wouldn't be
+> surprised if most FOSS software (actually most software, not just FOSS)
+> infringes some patent in the US (heck, even MS Office just got caught
+> infringing on some patent held by some patent-troll).
+>
+> This starts from the Linux kernel all the way to apps like OOo, there is
+> simply no way to make a distro that is patent-safe according to US laws.
+>
+> Why do you think Canonical is incorporated in the UK and not in the US?
+>
+> Why do you think Novell made the patent-protection agreement with
+> Microsoft?
+>
+> The only major commercial Linux distro that is based in US is Redhat and
+> that's probably only because at the time they were founded the patents
+> issue in the US didn't exist yet (at least not like these days).
+>
+> We cannot base our distro on the ridiculous patents laws of the US, first
+> of all there is no legal reason to do so, and second why should users all
+> around the world suffer US patent laws despite they don't apply to them?
+>
+> Having separate plf repos IS A MAJOR OBSTACLE for new users (and for
+> packagers probably too), first of all because most have no idea that these
+> exist and then even if they find out you need to consider all those users
+> on dialup for whom downloading many megabytes of replacement plf packages
+> is a major problem.
+>
+> So again, I suggest we include all the important codecs and
+> drivers/firmware that help the user to have a great out-of-the-box
+> experience with Mageia, but we add a question during installation so the
+> user can decide if he wants to install them or not.
+>
+> This should keep everybody happy, I don't see why this couldn't be
+> agreeable for you.
+>
+
+Hi Tux99:
+
+http://www.riaa.com/faq.php
+http://newteevee.com/2010/05/21/mpeg-la-threatens-googles-vp8-with-patent-pool-license/
+http://thresq.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/03/new-litigation-campaign-targets-tens-of-thousands-of-bittorrent-users.html
+http://www.sevensidedcube.net/biggest-movie-law-suite-ever-hurt-locker/
+
+Hmmm ... let's see now, I started collecting this list at 20.11h and it 
+is now 20:13 and all I did was Google "2010 movie lawsuit"; 2010 codec 
+lawsuit"; "2010 mp3 lawsuit" and the list is realistically longer.
+
+If you and others are willing to indemnify Mageia users and installers 
+against any lawsuits due to packaging unlicensed software/codecs/etc , 
+this would go a long way to giving people like myself piece of mind.
+
+When packaging an OS distro, we (as a community) should assume that the 
+product that our community devs and distro planners will not in the end 
+be cause of concern.
+
+If RedHat is able to maintain corporate headquarters in the US, then I 
+would suggest we examine closely their packaging repos. Mageia touts 
+itself as an international distro. You cannot claim international status 
+if you package a distro that is legal in one country and then illegal in 
+another. Some of the software packages have been reverse engineered to 
+circumvent patent laws while others are still in the grey zone and 
+others are not supposed to be installed due to their legal status.
+
+This is why, in my opinion, Mageia should try to steer itself away, as 
+much as possible, from grey and illegal areas and leave it to the end 
+user's choice whether or not to install these packages. There is nothing 
+wrong in also adding the Codeina/Fluendo option for those who would 
+rather use this service. We are trying to build a great package. Why 
+would the Mageia team put in peril its existence and the people's income 
+(through potential expensive lawsuits)? If users decide to use this 
+technology then they put themselves in this position and not the distro.
+
+We can let users know of the existence of these "questionable" pieces of 
+software, there is nothing wrong with this, especially when we offer 
+users a perfectly legal way of gaining use of codecs, libs etc. Whether 
+the users decide to use the "legitimate way" or the "other" way is 
+completely up to them and not Mageia's responsibility.
+
+Marc
+
+