Actually, you raise a couple of very important points I've been researching. I'm still trying to figure out if the GPL license allows for encrypted distirubtions or not. I can't seem to read into it one way or another. It does mention that distributed executables must be distributed with either source code, the promise to produce source code, or some form of documentation which clearly lists everything that is being used. However, nothing specifies whether or not encrytped distributions fit under GPL or not. Maybe I'm not reading it clearly... As for copy protection actually holding up against a determined opponent, I agree. The point isn't to prevent someone knowledgeable enough to copy it or to access it. Rather, the point is just to make it difficult enough for someone who would potentially be poiking around in it - to aggravate him/her enough to not merit continuing. Which is why I was looking at encryption rather than copy-protection as per say. I don't expect any form of encryption to be very sturdy... But was hoping to make it just a bit more obscure.... Thanks! Eric ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michel Bouissou" <michel@bouissou.net> Newsgroups: nlo.lists.linux-crypto Sent: Saturday, May 04, 2002 11:39 AM Subject: Re: Encrypting root partition > Le Samedi 4 Mai 2002 17:03, Eric a écrit : > > > > [...] My goal > > is to create a fully self-contained Linux system on a flash disk that can > > be distributed. [...] > > > [...] I've got specific needs and reasons to want to > > accomplish this, so I'm hoping no one starts to debate the issue of > > distributing an encrypted Linux system. > > Whatever your reasons can be, I believe that distributing an encrypted, > copy-protected, Linux system, would be a major infrigement of the GPL licence. > > So you are more than probably not legally allowed to do this. > > You can encrypt _your_own_programs_and_code_ if you wish, buit you shouldn't > distribute Linux itself in an encrypted way. > > > > The question, however, is how can > > I accomplish this? > > Short answer: You probably cannot. > > Because if there is to be no user-interaction (for entering a decryption key > or password), and no machine-related lock or customization, then your flash > card *must* contain its own decryption key, and be able to decrypt itself > entirely by itself. > > If so, anybody can easily copy the flash memory, and willl then get its exact > copy that will run as well as the original did. > > If you want to (try to) prevent copying, you will probably need to use custom > hardware, you can't achieve this with storing something on a standard mass > memory medium. > > Furthermore, "encryption" and "copy protection" are two rather different > topics, and this list is about encryption, not copy protection. > > Besides this, most people in the free software world will probably share my > opinion that copy protection is *bad* (besides the fact that it doesn't work, > and doesn't stand very long against a determined and competent opponent). > > Regards. > > -- > Michel Bouissou <michel@bouissou.net> OpenPGP ID 0x5C2BEE8F > - > Linux-crypto: cryptography in and on the Linux system > Archive: http://mail.nl.linux.org/linux-crypto/ > - Linux-crypto: cryptography in and on the Linux system Archive: http://mail.nl.linux.org/linux-crypto/
