Adam Williamson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > As we were discussing the mp3 patent issue in the Mandrake IRC channels, > a thought occurred to me. I remembered that it's legal to distribute the > source code of something that breaks US software patent legislation > (because it's considered the blueprint of something that infringes > patent, not the device as such). This is already known to Mandrake - for > example, it's why the -mdk .src.rpm of freetype can include an option to > compile with the bytecode interpreter enabled (which produces the plf > binary rpm; compiling the same .src.rpm with it disabled produces the > mdk binary rpm). So if we do have to strip mp3 stuff from 9.0, could we > not simply include the relevant *source* rpms in all versions of the > distribution, together with extremely prominent instructions on how to > recompile them (or even an option within rpmdrake to do so), coupled > with the necessary warnings that doing so would be illegal under US law?
US law is braindead enough to make that not illegal? 1- we provide sourcecode 2- we provide a button in rpmdrake to compile it and install it 3- as long as we have a text reading "continuing is illegal by the us law", we are legal Really??? Time to change your laws, people! It's simple nonsense.. -- Guillaume Cottenceau - http://people.mandrakesoft.com/~gc/
