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09-07-2014, 01:32 PM
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#1
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Sep 2014
Posts: 3
Rep: 
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Can you sell Linux distributions?
Okay so I bumped into a rather odd distribution which seems to be based on Ubuntu, however they're charging a small price for it, is this legal? Why isn't anyone doing anything to stop them?
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09-07-2014, 01:44 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Registered: Feb 2011
Location: Massachusetts, USA
Distribution: Fedora
Posts: 4,329
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It's perfectly legal. Why wouldn't it be?
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09-07-2014, 08:39 PM
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#3
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LQ Guru
Registered: Jan 2006
Location: Virginia, USA
Distribution: Slackware, Ubuntu MATE, Mageia, and whatever VMs I happen to be playing with
Posts: 19,940
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It is quite within the terms of the GPL, which most Linux distros use for a license, to sell GPL material.
Many distros make installation media available for a small price. I have a subscription to Slackware, even though I can download the *.iso files freely, as a way of supporting the distro. |
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09-08-2014, 02:16 AM
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#4
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LQ Addict
Registered: Dec 2013
Posts: 19,872
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the question is understandable.
of course, post #3 is right. it's all in the GPL.
although i could imagine scenarios where it would not be legal.
for my own works i prefer this license. |
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09-11-2014, 11:41 AM
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#5
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Sep 2014
Location: world
Distribution: mint kali
Posts: 4
Rep:
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It's legal but it should be open to everyone me thinks.
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09-17-2014, 05:37 AM
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#6
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Senior Member
Registered: Jun 2011
Location: NOVA
Distribution: Debian 12
Posts: 1,077
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it is open to everyone..
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10-16-2014, 11:41 PM
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#8
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Member
Registered: Oct 2013
Posts: 48
Rep: 
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To boil down the responses of frankbell and ondoho: technically, the GPL allows you to sell GPLed material; you just can't prevent the people who paid for if from giving it away for free. You are also required to provide source code, so people are not really paying for the software, they're paying for the services of compiling and download hosting.
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10-16-2014, 11:54 PM
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#9
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LQ Guru
Registered: Jan 2009
Location: Japan
Distribution: Mostly Debian and CentOS
Posts: 6,726
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Hi,
it depends on the licenses of the all the software within the distribution. Not everything in every distribution is GPL'd.
Evo2.
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10-17-2014, 12:01 AM
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#10
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Member
Registered: Oct 2013
Posts: 48
Rep:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by evo2
Hi,
it depends on the licenses of the all the software within the distribution. Not everything in every distribution is GPL'd.
Evo2.
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Of course! But that does apply to stuff that is GPL'd, and if they licensed proprietary components from the owners, they still have every right to charge for the bundle. I don't know of any common licenses that actively prohibit charging for compiled packages! |
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