[WBEL-users] Redhat Legalese

[Pete Stevens]

> 1.) It's apparently fine to grab the SRPMS, strip them of redhat logos
> and references, and then rebuild them all into an ISO distribution like
> Whitebox.  However, do you have to make all the changes ONLY if you plan
> on redistributing it?  i.e., if I just want to run Enterprise Linux on
> my servers here at my company, can I just grab the SRPMS, build them,
> and then install them without stripping out the various logos?

I believe this is fine. However RedHat have no obligation to make the SRPMS
available to you.

> 2.) Taking that a step further, if I have Whitebox on my servers, and
> (heaven forbid) Whitebox itself disappears and the mirror sites are shut
> down, can I grab future updates from the Redhat SRPM mirrors, build them
> and then install them without stripping the logos?  I mean this from a
> legal standpoint.  Yes, I know that from a TECHNICAL standpoint they
> will work perfectly fine as they're the same thing.

I believe this is also fine. Same caveat about the availability of SRPMS.

> 3.) Everyone I hear that has defended Redhat's move to Enterprise
> Linux/Fedora has said that when you pay Redhat, you aren't paying them
> for the software, you're paying them for the support.  If that's true,
> does that mean I can pay Redhat for a year of "support", get a bonafide
> copy of Redhat Enterprise Linux to install on my server, and then after
> that first support year is up, just download SRPMS for my server without
> paying redhat any more money?

I believe this is fine too. Again, you have no right to the SRPMS.

> 4.) Taking number 3 a step further, couldn't I purchase a support
> "contract" for one year for one server, get the CD's, and then install
> the software on 15 servers?  I'd use rhn/up2date for the ONE server,
> then either propagate those RPM's to the other ones, or simple download
> SRPM's to build and install for the others?

I believe that in order to receive the service from rhn/up2date you have to
sign a contract that states you have a license for every machine running rhel,
so this isn't okay.

Yours,

Pete Stevens

--
Pete Stevens
pete@ex-parrot.com
http://www.ex-parrot.com/~pete

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