[conspire] SUSE again (was: Linux program to remove mail from server?)

[Rick Moen]

Two more ILUG posts, in hopes that everyone isn't already bored to
tears.

----- Forwarded message from Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> -----

Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 19:01:40 -0700
To: ilug at linux.ie
From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
Subject: Re: [ILUG] SUSE Linux 9.3 Professional Edition licensing survey
	results

Quoting Michael Conry (michael.conry at gmail.com):

> Not necessarily redistributable at all.  SuSE/Novell's compilation
> copyrighted work isn't under a GPL or similar licence (as far as I
> know).  If you create a derivative version by, for example, deleting
> these rpms, then even the limited permissions SuSE give for
> redistribution of their disks will not necessarily apply to the
> derived work.

A brief review of the term "compilation copyright":

If I publish a collection of other people's work, and _if_ my job of 
selecting and arranging those works is sufficiently creative that it'd 
convince a judge that it's a substantively creative thing in itself,
then I automatically gain copyright title to the selection/arrangement.

LICENSE.TXT on CD#1 does indeed seem to assert such a copyright, and
then asserts that recipients automatically consent to a licence -- which 
is included:  Redistribution is permitted to all outside parties
provided you receive no consideration and don't bundle the thing with
any other product or service.

So, the selection/arrangement of packages _is_ licensed with the right
of redistribution.  (And yes, merely deleting a few packages from the
list would probably not escape the compilation copyright encumbrance -- 
if such a property would be ruled to exist at all.)

-- 
Irish Linux Users' Group
http://www.linux.ie/mailman/listinfo/ilug/


----- End forwarded message -----
----- Forwarded message from Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> -----

Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 18:51:22 -0700
To: ilug at linux.ie
From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
Subject: Re: [ILUG] SUSE Linux 9.3 Professional Edition

Quoting Rory Browne (rory.browne at gmail.com):

> The jury is still out on whether or the copying of DVD's is legal, due
> to the presence of allegedly non-redistributable packages.
> 
> Probably the safest option would be to borrow a copy, install it
> without installing Acroread, Moneyplex, RealPlayer,  or Opera, and
> then give back the CDs/DVD.

Well, if you're serious about identifying _all_ the non-redistributable 
packages, you might want to investigate this list one gets by doing 
"wget --mirror" on 
http://www.novell.com/products/linuxpackages/professional/index_all.html        
and then grepping the resulting retrieved tree of small HTML
package-information files for "Commercial" as the licence type -- which
SUSE term seems to correlate with restrictive licensing lacking
redistribution rights:

acroread.html:      Commercial, Other License(s), see package
agfa-fonts.html:      Other License(s), see package, Commercial
avmailgate.html:      Commercial
avm_fcdsl.html:      Commercial, Other License(s), see package
avmfritzcapi.html:      Commercial, Other License(s), see package
bitstream-vera.html:      Commercial, Other License(s), see package
cop-track.html*:      Other License(s), see package, Commercial
flash-player.html:      Other License(s), see package, Commercial
intel-536ep.html:      Other License(s), see package, Commercial
ipw-firmware.html:      Commercial, Other License(s), see package
iscan.html:      GPL, Commercial
km_fcdsl.html:      Commercial, Other License(s), see package
km_fritzcapi.html:      Commercial, Other License(s), see package
km_smartlink-softmodem.html:      Commercial, Other License(s), see package
ltmodem.html:      Other License(s), see package, Commercial
mainactor-5.html:      Commercial
moneyplex.html:      Other License(s), see package, Commercial
novell-ifolder-client.html*:      Commercial, Other License(s), see package
opera.html:      Commercial
planmaker.html:      Commercial, Other License(s), see package
realplayer.html:      Commercial, Other License(s), see package
sesam_srv.html:      Commercial
smartlink-softmodem.html:      Commercial, Other License(s), see package
textmaker.html:      Commercial, Other License(s), see package
ttf-founder-simplified.html:      Other License(s), see package, Commercial
ttf-founder-traditional.html:      Other License(s), see package, Commercial
wnn-sdk.html*:      Commercial, Other License(s), see package

As I said, I cited the four packages I did -- and confirmed them to be
problematic in 9.1 -- because they stood out as being likely problems,
since I _knew_ that their publishers don't allow public redistribution.

*Asterisks signify packages present on the DVD only, not the CDs, according to:
http://www.novell.com/products/linuxpackages/professional/diff_cd_dvd.html      

-- 
Irish Linux Users' Group
http://www.linux.ie/mailman/listinfo/ilug/


----- End forwarded message -----