Quoting Niall Walsh (linux at esatclear.ie):
["frelling"]
> I suspect it is in deference to the delicate nature of anyone reading.
> I suspect RELL should be closer to ACK, just a different vowel! I can't
> imagine that anyone would learn such a word for the first time on this
> mailing list though ...
It's an invented swear word from the s-f series "Farscape".
> So anyone with Suse 9.3 installed care to put us out of our misery?
> Extract these rpms and see what the licenses have to say!
I'll have time to do this in a day or two.
> Presumably the option is still wide open to just remove these few rpms
> (rewriting the equivalent of Package files perhaps) to create a
> semi-redistributable Suse (semi as the non-transferable licence suggests
> it may be only redistributable to the original puchaser)?
Yes, I'm sure of it. (Please note, as I've mentioned before, that
there may be other packages beyond those four that are under
non-redistributable licensing terms. Those are just the four I spotted,
a few years back, that seemed most likely to be problematic. I also
initially believed that the OpenPBS batch-processing package shared that
problem, but turned out to be mistaken.)
Other SUSE editions have always existed that consisted solely of
packages that were either outright open source or proprietary with the
right of redistribution, notably Ftp Edition. Professional Edition,
however, has the advantage of being neatly packaged in CD (and now DVD)
images, and so has always been seen as the most-desirable package. (Ftp
Edition has almost as many packages, but must be network-installed.)
This very likely has been an intentional effect, on the part of SUSE
Linux AG / Novell, Inc.: They encourage distribution of the
more-limited CD images (such as the Personal-CD Edition, and network
installs of Ftp Edition, knowing that such will whet the appetite for
Professional Edition -- which makes them money.
The numerous generous statements from SUSE employees over the years,
to the effect that they don't mind if you copy Professional Edition,
clearly indicate that they'd _like_ you to have that right -- and their
generosity does them credit. I've merely pointed out that third-party
rights, alas, create conflict with copyright matters.
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