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= Fedora Free Software Analysis =
Fedora has a defined set of licensing policies, which can be found at [[Licensing]]. The summary version is that all software and fonts in Fedora must be under a Free license, with the notable exception of [[Licensing:Main#Binary_Firmware|firmware]].


Because we include firmware, Fedora does not meet the FSF's [http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html guidelines] to be a "Free GNU Linux distribution" despite the guidelines being based on Fedora's own licensing guidelines.


Fedora as it currently stands has [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines guidelines]  which only accept Free or open source software. The differences in licenses between what FSF considers Free software the OSI approved list of open source licenses are very [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-advisory-board/2006-April/msg00174.html limited]  currently to the reciprocal license (which is not a license under which we ship any Fedora software, and the OSI is reconsidering it anyway), few other licenses and we would gain better credibility, community support by changing our packaging guidelines to only allow Free software as defined by the FSF. We would gain by explicitly declaring what we already follow in our strong commitment to Free software.
Fedora is constantly auditing packages for compliance with these policies, and makes every possible effort to be compliant, however, due to the size of the distribution, we make no guarantees. If you spot something in Fedora which is not under an acceptable license, please let us know at legal@fedoraproject.org.
 
RahulSundaram has brought up this earlier in the now defunct Fedora Advisors group and MichaelTiemann intiated a [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-advisory-board/2006-April/msg00170.html discussion]  in Fedora Advisory Board regarding this.
 
 
== Current Status ==
 
Our licensing audit of Fedora Core is complete and several [http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/6/i386/os/RELEASE-NOTES-en_US.html#id303528 modifications]  have been made to ensure that we are compliant with the licensing guidelines.
 
Fedora Extras repository already had appropriate license checks made during the review process for every package before it was allowed into the repository. We are continuing through a  [https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-maintainers/2007-January/msg00269.html licensing audit]  of Fedora Extras packages as cross verification after the merge of core and extras in Fedora 7. '''The whole of Fedora should only be Free software already at this point however'''.
 
 
== FSF Responses ==
 
* http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FreeSoftwareAnalysis/FSF
 


== References ==
== References ==
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* Resisting the binary blob - http://lwn.net/Articles/209175/
* Resisting the binary blob - http://lwn.net/Articles/209175/
* The Fedora Extras license audit - http://lwn.net/Articles/218037/
* The Fedora Extras license audit - http://lwn.net/Articles/218037/
* Standardize license tags to help in auditing and keeping track of licenses included in a better fashion - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/GuidelinesTodo
* Slashdot post supporting this idea - http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=194333&cid=15936443

Latest revision as of 20:46, 7 April 2010

Fedora has a defined set of licensing policies, which can be found at Licensing. The summary version is that all software and fonts in Fedora must be under a Free license, with the notable exception of firmware.

Because we include firmware, Fedora does not meet the FSF's guidelines to be a "Free GNU Linux distribution" despite the guidelines being based on Fedora's own licensing guidelines.

Fedora is constantly auditing packages for compliance with these policies, and makes every possible effort to be compliant, however, due to the size of the distribution, we make no guarantees. If you spot something in Fedora which is not under an acceptable license, please let us know at legal@fedoraproject.org.

References

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