Ubuntu compatibility with Debian?

David Teague teague at jackson.main.nc.us
Mon May 9 12:55:28 UTC 2005


From: "James Wilkinson" <ubuntu at westexe.demon.co.uk>
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 8:26 AM
Subject: Re: Ubuntu compatibility with Debian?


> 
> David Teague wrote:
> > This is not true. The entire distro is (as it must be) GPL'd so I
> > can fetch the sources and do exactly the same thing for that distro
> > that you describe for Ubuntu.
> 
> Hmm. I don't think that's right, either.
> 
> You're right in as much as open-source software has to come with the
> source code to modify it (freedom as in speech). This has nothing to
> do with whether the distribution as a whole is free as in free beer. [1]
> 
> But very few distributions are entirely GPL. Apache, for example, comes
> with a non-GPL compatible license. BSD-derived software tends to have
> BSD licenses. Ubuntu, which is undoubtedly free-as-in-beer, does not
> give you the freedom to modify all its packages' compile options,
> because it includes non-free drivers to which we do not have the source
> code.
> 
> Some distributions (Fedora) don't include non-free software: you can
> modify all its packages. Yet it isn't entirely GPL.

James

Yup, I stand (or rather I sit) corrected. There are parts of 
every Linux Distro that are not GPL, some are BSD, 
some are Artistic License, etc. Each has its restrictions, 
(such as the name issue you mention; the Perl Artistic 
license requires that you make clear what you contributed) 
but these licenses share this one essential thing: You can 
redistribute and make derived works which you can 
distribute.

There may be stuff such as install routines that are even
restricted even more. I remember Slackware getting sued 
in the early days by SLS (Soft Landing Systems) for 
using SLS's not-free installation routines, and Slack had 
to cease and desist until it has its own routines in place.

Thanks!

David Teague,  http://cs.wcu.edu/~dbt 
Advocating Free Software and Double Bass tuned in fifths
www.dennismasuzzo.com;  www.silviodallatorre.com
www.joelquarrington.com/;  For information on Red  Mitchell, 
http://home.teleport.com/~mimuma/;  www.larryholloway.com






More information about the ubuntu-users mailing list