Concerns

[Mark Reitblatt]

On 12/9/06, Evan Hazlett <ejhazlett at gmail.com> wrote:
> greetings all...
>
> i am evan hazlett, and the creator of a project called "Reconstructor".  I
> have had growing concerns with some unintentional effects it has caused.  I
> will briefly describe what it does.  Reconstructor allows the customization
> (usplash, gnome, software, etc.) of the Ubuntu Live CD.  I originally
> created it because I had a standard set of software and settings that I
> didn't like to reconfigure for every machine when I reinstalled Ubuntu.

Just curious, but how does this compare to UCK?
http://uck.sourceforge.net/

> The
> concerns I have is there are some people that are using it to create their
> own distros (although most are no more than ubuntu with some extra software
> and artwork) and are offering them for download.
>

Why is this a concern? Ubuntu has many derivative distros. In fact,
Ubuntu ITSELF is a derivative of Debian!

> I wanted to get the thoughts from the ubuntu developers on this.  I'm sure
> some of you have heard of Reconstructor and probably even seen some of the
> projects i mentioned.

To be honest, I'd never even heard of your software and am not aware
of the specific distros you refer to.

> I do NOT want to take away from the ubuntu community
> in any way, shape, or form,

Derivative distros can often give back to the community. Specialized
distros may have further market penetration in specific areas and
increase the number and variance of bug reports that get forwarded
back to the upstream projects.


>and i feel my project could cause some problems
> if not used as suggested (personal customization).
>

That's perfectly fine. If you have problems with people using your
tool in ways you don't approve of, then a license such as the GPL is a
horrible fit. In fact, even releasing your tool publicly virtually
guarantees it will be used in ways different from or even contrary to
your original intent.

-- 
Anybody who tells me I can't use a program because it's not open
source, go suck on rms. I'm not interested. 99% of that I run tends to
be open source, but that's _my_ choice, dammit.

-- Linus Torvalds