Windows look and introductory distros Re: Copy of Kubuntu/Ubuntu?

[Bill Ricker]

>   Wasn't Mepis involved in some kind of GPL dispute?  Did that ever
> get resolved?  A very cursory Google only found people bitching about
> the issue in forums; hardly a reliable source of information.

The Mepis GPL issue was an error in good faith, and quite a few of the
smaller distros still have the same issue (but haven't been called on
it; I'm don't recall why Mepis was singled out).  I don't recall the
exact resolution, but I believe (if only from the lack of recent
noise) that it was resolved one way or another.
  The question was if it is sufficient to distribute your deltas if
the sources for the binaries you're distributing are available
elsewhere?  I'm sure FSF's interpretation is what RMS meant when he
wrote it, but their strict interpretation -- that anyone
redistributing a GPL'd work in binary must also distribute (or make
available at nominal cost) _all_ the sources, not just their diffs
(including in a composite work, sources for even unchanged components)
-- may dissuade some smaller distributions from distributing install
kits at all. It does NOT require all distros to provide a public
mirror of the whole code tree, but if they don't at least post a
source-zip of THEIR build, they have to provide a source CD set for
nominal processing fee or something.

There was some suggestion of a shared common source repository where
smaller distros could have effectively public code escrow to meet
their GPL obligations without having to run a source mirror or postal
fulfillment operation.

(Frankly, I think the argument that the FSF's repository of the GNU
code might someday disappear so it' the responsibility of each distro
to redistribute it in toto in the meantime is specious. If your distro
is the last in the earth to be using sources from some defunct
project, you better post 'em ... but otherwise, a link to a public
repository and a listing of your diffs seems responsive to
requirements to me. However, it should be EASY to build, so posting
links should include tools to auto-download the RIGHT version and
apply your patches. But a Court might decide otherwise. IANAL. )

-- 
Bill
n1vux at arrl.net bill.n1vux at gmail.com