Red Hat Enterprise
 

Hi;
Is it legal to use a copy of RHEL 5.2 according to GNU license?

I think you simply can't install it, if you haven't a valid subscription and activation number. For a really free Red Hat system, you may always consider CentOS: it is a rebuild of the Red Hat source packages, with the Red Hat logo removed. Moreover updates are released just one day later than those released by Red Hat.

You can install and use it without paying the subscription fee. The only problem is that you will not be able to get any updates or support without paying the subscription fee. The same applies to SUSE Enterprise Linux. I personally would go with CentOS if you do not require the Red Hat subscription.

not true. you can still get updates, you just will not get them the second they come out. you will have to wait like everyone else for the srpm to be released and added to a yum package someplace.

to avoid this headache just use CentOS it is a fork of RHE with all of the RH trademarks removed. that is the only difference.

Actually you can get updates, just point your yum repositories to the centos ones.. ;)

But it is legal for you to keep using Red Hat or use Red Hat, but they have terms.

From: http://www.redhat.com/rhel/renew/faqs/#6

I think we are thinking on two different wavelengths here. Its correct that you can get the source rpms and build them into binary rpms. What I meant was that you would not get updates directly from Red Hat via RHN.

I think RHEL will let you put in a key after installation though. I often wonder it you can just install it and change the repos to CentOS ones. But by the time I finish that thought CentOS is already installed so I use it... ;-)

What counts is the license that comes with the SW---what does it say?

Note:
I recommend that you remove your e-mail and phone # from your sig. If you enable e-mail in your profile, people can still contact you. The way it is now, you're inviting spam.

then please be specific, especially when you are dealing with someone who is new to linux like the OP.

your statement was very clear that you would have to pay for both the OS (RHE) and the updates. both of those statements is clearly false. you at no time mentioned RHN.

RHN is part of a SUPPORT system you are paying for.

that is what you have to pay for. thus my recommendation to use CentOS as you get everything that RHE provides without the service contract fee and thus their paid for support.

Please be mindful of how you present some aspects of Linux to the new people to linux and even to those who are not so new.

The moment you do it, your redhat logos will be updated to Centos' - which will visually
turn your system into centos.

I think you are making a mountain out of a mole hill, nitpicking and misrepresenting my posts. Like I mentioned above, what I meant to say was that you would not get any updates from Red Hat without a valid RHN subscription (which I referred to as a Red Hat subscription). Having access to a bunch of source RPMs is not the same as having the actual updates directly from the Red Hat software repositories. For most users its a lot more convenient to get updates from their distro maintainer rather than spending time rebuilding source RPMs or scouring the web to see if anyone has already done so for you. This is why like you, I recommended CentOS.