Hi
Red Hat has an inconsistent position on patents and source. For some
things, the source is stripped of the code (so no more pristine source),
but for others, the source shipped still includes the problem code (it
just isn't compiled).
- For MP3, the code is removed.
- OpenSSH has the CSS code removed (which I guess is DMCA related not
patent; it is also a pretty lame OpenSSH attempt to make a political
"statement" by including undocumented, non-standard, and unneeded
"features").
- OpenSSL has numerous patent bits removed from the source. This is a
change; IIRC in the past it was just built without the patented bits
enabled (they were still in the source).
- NTFS code remains in the kernel source; the reason cited for not
building it is patents.
- Font bytecode interpreter is disabled in freetype but the code remains
and the spec file even provides a build option to include it. From
what I understand, it is not enabled due to patents.
Why is it okay to ship the source to some things that are not used for
patent reasons but not to ship the source to others?
Forwarded to the legal contact[1]. Thanks
--
Rahul
[1] http://fedora.redhat.com/About/contact.html
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