Can I sell my self-created linux live based on debian?

cccc · 09-12-2014, 06:18 PM

hi

I've created my own linux live (based on debian) booting from usb drive with vmware-view, citrix client, teamviewer quicksupport etc.
It was a lot of work, more than half a year.
Can I sell it or must give it for free?

sgosnell · 09-12-2014, 07:06 PM

You can sell DVDs, for a reasonable price, based on the cost of the blank DVD and your time to burn it. The problem comes when you try to sell proprietary software, which apparently is included in your DVD. Citrix, Teamviewer, etc are not free, and can't be distributed without the permission of the owners. Be very careful with this.

cccc · 09-12-2014, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgosnell

You can sell DVDs, for a reasonable price, based on the cost of the blank DVD and your time to burn it. The problem comes when you try to sell proprietary software, which apparently is included in your DVD. Citrix, Teamviewer, etc are not free, and can't be distributed without the permission of the owners. Be very careful with this.

Thx, but do I get problems even, if I give it for free, for example as a free download?
BTW I used just free linux clients: citrix, vmware-view, teamviewer etc.

jefro · 09-12-2014, 08:19 PM

There are a number or legal agreements in the software. Not all of them are the same. With some of the agreements you are free to distribute it (generally with providing source or links to sources). Some of the agreements do require you to contact the copy holder and some are forbidden by laws.

You have to look into each file or set of files. From your list, you can't even give some of them away legally.

fhleung · 09-19-2014, 01:14 PM

I dun know if this helpful...
have you heard about SUSE STUDIO?

schneidz · 09-19-2014, 01:54 PM

i think for anything that is under the gpl, you are free to sell it for however much you want and to distribute it to whoever you want so long as you provide the source code you used along with whatever changes you made.

i would read each of the eula's for the non-gpl software to make sure you dont get sued by any of those companies.

yancek · 09-19-2014, 03:12 PM

Quote:

i think for anything that is under the gpl, you are free to sell it for however much you want and to distribute it to whoever you want so long as you provide the source code you used along with whatever changes you made.

The above has always been my understanding of th GPL. The following quote is from Slackware Linux Essentials, Section 1.3:

Quote:

It is important to note that the GPL does not say anything about price. As odd as it may sound, you can charge for free software. The “free” part is in the liberties you have with the source code, not in the price you pay for the software. (However, once someone has sold you, or even given you, a compiled program licensed under the GPL they are obligated to provide its source code as well.)

The non-GPL software is what you would need to worry about and you would need to have the GPL source code available.

jefro · 09-19-2014, 07:57 PM

citrix, vmware-view, teamviewer