Quoting Paul Jakma (paul at clubi.ie):
> RHEL3, except for one or two RPMs, is collectively licenced under the
> GPL. Most of the packages are GPL, and the rest are mostly also
> freely redistributable.
Exception: Two SRPM non-software packages contain trademark-encumbered
image files, which during compilation get (I believe) included in a
number of the other binary RPMs. One is allowed, in general, to make
non-commercial use of those images -- and, to the extent of its trademark
rights (which to a first approximation is limited to affecting
commercial usage and redistribution), Red Hat attempts to tie its
licensing of the two SRPMs to _your_ observance of its rather aggressive
trademarks policy (posted on its Web site).
That's why the various RHEL rebuild projects can't simply substitute its
own equivalents for the two encumbered source RPMs (in order to produce
an unrestricted distro), but have to also recompile.
> Your support contract with RedHat OTOH, is a different matter. (And
> contains penalty clauses if you grossly misreport the number of
> installed RHEL's).
Well said. Many people confuse obligations under the bundled support
contract with encumbrances on the distro contents, themselves.
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