hplip-plugin license forbids redistribution

[Rathann]

I would like to package the hplip-plugin for Fedora either in Fedora proper or in RPMFusion (http://rpmfusion.org/). However, the current license prohibits any kind of redistribution. Please change the license in line with Fedora requirements for binary firmware:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing:Main?rd=Licensing#Binary_Firmware
so that at least the firmware can go into Fedora proper.

The binary-only plugins cannot go into Fedora even if the license would allow it because they're not open source. However, they could go into RPMFusion and thus users would have all their HP printers working out-of-the-box and sysadmins wouldn't need to worry about hp-setup requesting root and installing files outside package manager control.

[Suma Byrappa (suma-byrappa)]

Hello,

I am sorry to say that we will not be able to accommodate this request. Hence closing the bug.

Regards,
Suma

[Rathann (dominik-greysector)]

So it takes you 1 year and 8 months to say you won't change your licence and you're not even providing an explanation why.

Not nice at all. You can of course do what you want with your binary blobs, but I won't be recommending HP printers to anyone.

[Suma Byrappa (suma-byrappa)]

Hello,

HPLIP plug-ins contain proprietary IP in them. The licensing is designed which suits the proprietary nature of the plug-ins.

Only a small percentage of printers need plug-ins, which gets installed during printer configuration. There are better checks and alerts for cases where plug-ins are not installed or out-dated. We hardly receive problems from our users with respect to plug-in availability or installation.

We are very sorry for the delayed decision on this bug.

Regards,
Suma

[Rathann (dominik-greysector)]

Hello, Suma.
I am aware of the proprietary nature of the plug-ins. I didn't think that allowing redistribution of unmodified binaries would be such an issue and I really wonder why.

You are missing the point in the next paragraph. The issue is not that installation or update doesn't work. The issue is that the license prevents automated deployment of the plugins on user workstations (or on print servers). We can't package the firmwares and plugins for installation using distribution package management tools. Also, installation using hp-setup creates files in system directories that are outside package manager control. So your legal issue is creating technical issues. I'd very much like you to bring this issue to your legal department again and ask them to reconsider.

[Suma Byrappa (suma-byrappa)]

Hello,

I will check this with our legal team .

Regards,
Suma

[Rathann (dominik-greysector)]

Hello, Suma. It's been seven months. Have you checked this with your legal team? If yes, what was the answer?

Regards,
Dominik.

[Kẏra (thekyriarchy)]

Allowing unmodified redistribution shouldn't make a difference. The plugin is already downloadable for free from hp servers. This would simply allow easier to install packages to solve various issues users like myself encounter.

[Rathann (dominik-greysector)]

Not being able to redistribute the hplip plugin binary files in RPM format is an issue for Fedora Silverblue edition as no direct modifications to the installed system are possible. The system runs from an image which is immutable at runtime (and hp-plugin script attempts to download and install those files directly from HP at runtime). An RPM package could be added to the system image via package layering and would be usable after reboot.