On 9/11/07, Rahul Sundaram sundaram@fedoraproject.org wrote:
Jesse Keating wrote:
On Tue, 11 Sep 2007 20:02:40 +0000 (UTC) Kevin Kofler kevin.kofler@chello.at wrote:
Rahul Sundaram <sundaram <at> fedoraproject.org> writes:
Thanks for this split. Hopefully we will able to link to the free part from within Fedora.
Unfortunately I don't think you will be able to. The stuff in the free part (or most of it, at least) is going to be exactly the stuff which Legal is most uncomfortable with: Free Software, but patent-encumbered in the US.
And really, if we could reference it, then why the crap couldn't we just package it in our repo?
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.
Rahul
Yes! I cought a bit late on this thread but I can't be happier! I started a threat that asked this exact question: why doesn't fedora link to external repositories after users agreeing to some sort of ULA.
What is the update on this topic? I really hope fedora goes ahead and links to sites outside US that can legally host files.
It is a shame that worldwide users had to "suffer" because of US legislative even if their countries (like mine) don't recognize software patents.
Hope this changes in the future so please post a quick reply about status of this issue.
Thank you in advance, Valent.