Jeroen van Meeuwen wrote:
There is a lot of differences between pointing to the repository and including the packages directly as I already explained in Fedora Advisory Board list so I won't rehash all the arguments again now. Please read the releated threads if you missed it. In short, it is not possible to include patent-encumbered packages directly in the repository as long as it hosted in US. Pointing to it might very well be possible.
Seriously though, this is just plain dumb wrong:
If we cannot include the packages in our own repositories but we can point to other repositories that do have the packages, nothing prevents us from distributing the appropriate /etc/yum.repos.d/ files in the fedora-release package.
Or, if you need another level of indirection, include a repo that doesn't itself have anything controversial but has a package that configures yum for repos that might.
So, I'll back up Jesse's question:
And really, if we could reference it, then why the crap couldn't we just package it in our repo?
Or - why not move the entire repo to places that can have all the contents? What's the point of even worrying about this issue?