On Thu 11 Sep 2003 23:50, Svetoslav Slavtchev posted as excerpted below: > i still disslike SuSE, because they use closed installer, > and there are no free install CD, and i think i would have > similer impression from Mandrake.
The free install CD may be a valid point, but the installer.. well, that sort of depends on your definition of "open" and "closed", I believe. If I'm not mistaken, they DO publish source, but it's not GPL compatible due to a caveat -- you can make mods and distribute as you wish, BUT ONLY FOR FREE AS IN GRATIS, you can't distribute versions for which you charge. Thus, it's deliberately not commercially viable to use their installer as the basis for another distrib, in ordered to keep commercial competition down, but if one doesn't charge for it, one could do it, and one is free to do it for their own or company use free of distribution charge, in any case. That's as I've seen it explained, anyway. I haven't bothered to go look at it first hand and see, so it's QUITE possible I have it all wrong. If so, a correction would indeed be appreciated. -- Duncan - List replies preferred. "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin
