Quoting optimus ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): > A local vendor here in my place once scared customers that buying Red Hat > demands strict license compliance, or else face a humiliating general audit. > I then thought it was FUD, but now I think it's indeed true.
I'm not sure, but this may confuse the issues surrounding two distinct (but very similar) Linux distributions: 1. The regular Red Hat distribution absolutely includes only freely redistributable software (under various licence terms). That distribution is now in the middle of becoming the community-maintained Fedora distribution. http://fedora.redhat.com/ 2. I _think_ (based on looking up quite a few of the constituent packages) that the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 distribution -- formerly Red Hat Advanced Server -- is likewise, but am not 100% sure. If you acquire a copy by buying one of RH's RHEL products, then you are automatically thereby entering your firm into a bundled support contract that extends for a year, and renews with a cancellation provision. The support contract limits how many RHEL hosts your firm may operate during the support contract. I cannot find anything that legally impairs such a RHEL customer from making copies of the software and redistributing it (except for not having been able to verify all of the packages' licensing). http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/linux-info/rhel-isos Both distributions include expressions of RH's registered trademarks, which create possible pitfalls for people doing commercial redistribution. http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/linux-info/trademark-law -- Cheers, Accordions don't play Lady of Spain; Rick Moen _people_ play Lady of Spain. [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [EMAIL PROTECTED] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Official Website: http://plug.linux.org.ph Searchable Archives: http://marc.free.net.ph . To leave, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/plug . Are you a Linux newbie? To join the newbie list, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/ph-linux-newbie
