As I understand it (please correct me if I am wrong) these fonts are not included in GNU/Linux and other Open Source distrubutions because of licensing issues. Presumably, the each distribution should be clean, in the sense that it should only include material that falls under the license used by that distribution. However, if Debian automatically installs these from the web, then it is effectively including them in the distribution. That seems strange to me. Is there some fine legal distinction here which I do not understand? Why shouldn' t Debian just include the fonts in the distribution? Since we know that there is a Microsoft License attached to these fonts, presumably the user must get a warning before these are installed; something like: "About to install Microsoft Web Fonts. Please read the license and press agree to continue, or skip ... etc." I am using Red Hat and Mandrake, so I do not know what Debian does. If this is the procedure, then what is the difference between including these in the distribution, and taking them from the web? Benjamin Rossen On Tuesday 11 January 2005 13:39, Juliusz Chroboczek wrote: > > [The Microsoft Core Fonts] can't be included in a Linux distribution, > > but anyone can make them available for free as long as the license > > is obeyed. > > AFAIK, they can be distributed, but only verbatim. Hence, a Linux > distribution could include them, but would have to cabextract them on > the fly. > > If you're using Debian, the msttcorefonts package will automatically > grab them off the web and configure your system to use them. > > Juliusz > > _______________________________________________ > fontconfig mailing list > fontconfig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/fontconfig >
