[wplug] Red Hat AS/ES (was Building redhat from source)

[Vanco, Donald]

Bob Schmertz wrote:
> On Fri, 2003-05-23 at 16:46, Vanco, Donald wrote:
>> It's also worth noting that there are a bunch of folks hoping to
>> circumvent the cost of the RH EL product line by compiling the
>> entire distro from sources.  Sadly, it appears that these distros
>> are not quite fully "self hosting" - builds of some portions of
>> GNOME and things like that fail... 
>> 
>> My personal experiences with building updates to AS from src rpms
>> bears that out - you really need a licensed, "full" install to get
>> things to build without flaming hoops and spinning plates on
>> sticks.... 
>> 
> 
> I'm curious as to how recompiling the distro of Free Software will
> allow someone to have a copy of ES that they couldn't have otherwise.
	It's pretty simple - nowhere does Red Hat provide pre-compiled
binaries of any Enterprise Linux product - if you want to install it, you
have to compile it.

> So far I haven't been able to figure out what the real deal is with
> Red Hat Advanced Server (and now Enterprise Server and all the rest).
> Is it illegal to copy the ISOs?  
	There are no such thing as Red Hat Advanced Server ISOs (at least
not from RH :)  )

> If so, how can they do that when all
> or nearly all of the software is free, much of it GPL'ed? 
	Red Hat always has been, is, and (according to Red Hat) always will
be based on 100% free / Open Source code.  They are, in fact, complying with
the GPL by making the source readily available.

>  If not, why
> aren't there RHAS/ES ISOs floating around on the Net, and how come
> none of the update mirrors carry update RPMs for the "commercial"
> offerings? 
	Because that's what the whole idea of the support subscriptions are
about.  This is not a "Consumer" product - it's an Enterprise class OS, an
as a general rule those that pay for a copy are not in any hurry to 1)
violate the "you bought one copy" license agreement that comes with the
subscription and 2) provide free copies to the huddled, unwashed masses.
	I have generates ISOs from the copy I own - I keep them strictly as
back up and for "internal evaluation" only.

Don